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A 


HISTORY  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Particular  Eeference  to  the  Denomination  of  Christians 


BAPTISTS. 


ISAAC  BACKUS. 


Swotttr  €intianf  foiilj  ^attB 


DAVID  WESTON, 


VOLUME    I. 


NEWTON,  MASS. : 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  BACKUS  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

1871. 


PRINTED  BY  THE  PROVIDENCE  PRESS  COMPANY,  PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 


editor's  preface. 


A  historian  who  has  been  an  actor  in  the  events  which  he 
narrates,  has  peculiar  advantages  and  disadvantages.  He 
can  write  with  more  minuteness  of  detail,  and  with  a  fresher 
and  more  life-like  coloring.  He  can  write  with  more  confi- 
dence, and,  drawing  from  his  own  experience  and  observa- 
tion, is  in  this  respect  more  trustworthy.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  is  more  liable  to  be  warped  by  prejudice,  to  see 
only  the  excellences  and  none  of  the  defects  of  those  with 
whom  he  has  been  identified,  and  only  the  defects  and  none 
of  the  excellences  of  those  to  whom  he  has  been  opposed, 
to  be  a  partizan  rather  than  a  judge,  and  to  make  his  narra- 
tion little  more  than  the  reflection  of  his  personal  opinions 
or  his  personal  sympathy  and  affection,  hostility  and  spite. 

The  Church  History  of  Isaac  Backus  has  all  the  above- 
named  excellences.  To  a  large  extent  he  was  an  eye-witness 
of  that  which  he  describes  ;  and  where  not  an  eye-witness, 
he  placed  himself  in  closest  possible  connection  with  it  by 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  actors,  and  by  immediate  and 
most  diligent  and  thorough  examination  of  records  and  other 
evidence.  While  it  may  be  too  much  to  say  that  he  abso- 
lutely avoided  the  defects  above  named,  yet  his  sound  judg- 
ment, his  natural  candor  and  honesty  and  his  elevated  Chris- 
tian principle,  have  made  him  as  nearly  free  from  them  as 
perhaps  any  author  who  has  written  in  similar  circumstances. 


IV  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  Baptists  of  New  England,  this 
work  has  always  been  justly  regarded  as  the  standard  of  au- 
thority. The  single  edition  hitherto  published  was  exhausted 
many  years  ago,  and  as  the  work  became  rare,  the  need  of  its 
republication  was  deeply  felt.  The  Backus  Historical  Society, 
at  a  meeting  in  June,  1869,  decided  to  undertake  the  task  of 
republication ;  of  which  decision,  the  edition  now  presented 
to  the  public  is  the  result. 

This  edition  is  a  reproduction  of  the  original  work  in  full, 
and  with  only  the  following  changes : — 1 .  Grammatical  errors 
and  a  few  of  the  more  prominent  rhetorical  errors  have  been 
corrected.  These  corrections  have  been  made  with  the 
smallest  possible  variation  from  the  text,  and,  for  the  most 
part,  affect  only  some  verbal  form.  2.  The  author's  errata 
of  the  first  edition  are  corrected  in  the  body  of  the  work 
according  to  his  direction.  3.  The  orthography  of  the  work 
has  been  made  to  conform  more  nearly  to  the  present  stand- 
ard. 4.  The  citations  of  the  work  have  been  collated  with 
the  originals,  except  in  a  few  instances  where  the  latter  could 
not  be  found ;  and  in  many  cases,  more  explicit  references, 
or  references  to  current  editions,  have  been  made  in  brackets. 
Such  editorial  references  to  Winthrop's  Journal  are  to  the 
New  Edition  by  James  Savage,  Boston,  1853  ;  those  to  Hub- 
bard, are  to  Hubbard's  History  of  New  England,  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society,  1815  ;  those  to  Mather's  Magnalia 
are  to  the  First  American  Edition,  Hartford,  1820  ;  those  to 
Prince's  Chronology  and  Prince's  Annals  are  to  the  edition 
published  in  Boston,  1826  ;  those  to  Morton's  Memorial  are 
to  the  edition  of  the  Congregational  Board  of  Publication, 
Boston,  1855.  Where  the  author  refers  to  Vol.  I  or  Vol.  II 
of  "Massachusetts  History,"  he  means  Hutchinson's  History 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  editorial  references  are  to  the  edi- 
tion published  at  Salem,  1795.  By  "Massachusetts  History, 
Vol.  Ill,"  the  author  means  not  the  continuation  of  Hutchin- 
son's work  by  his  grandson,  but  the  work  commonly  known  as 
"Hutchinson's  Collection  of  Original  Papers."     Differences 


EDITOR'S   PREFACE.  V 

between  the  originals  and  their  citation  by  the  author  have 
been  noted  in  brackets.  In  the  letter  of  Robert  Mascall, 
found  in  Vol.  I,  pages  311  to  313  of  the  present  edition, 
Mr.  Backus  indicated  such  changes,  in  supplying  or  omitting 
words,  &c,  as  he  felt  at  liberty  to  make;  and  in  the  Preface 
to  Vol.  I,  he  said,  "I  have  as  strictly  kept  to  the  true  sense 
in  all  my  quotations  as  in  that,  yet  I  have  not  thought  it 
necessary  to  continue  such  marks  in  all."  That  which  is 
contained  in  brackets  in  the  above-named  letter  is  from  the 
author;  in  all  other  places,  from  the  editor.  5.  Editorial 
foot-notes  have  been  added,  amounting  in  all  to  about  a  hun- 
dred pages. i  These  are  marked  "Ed."  ;  and  where  an 
editorial  note  is  appended  to  one  by  the  author,  they  are  dis- 
tinguished by  marking  the  latter  UB."  6.  A  full  Index  to 
both  volumes  is  appended  to  Vol.  II,  in  place  of  the  brief 
and  very  defective  indices  and  tables  of  contents  of  the 
original  work.  7.  All  the  longer  quotations  are  distin- 
guished from  the  author's  own  words  by  change  of  type  ; 
topical  headings  are  affixed  to  each  alternate  page,  and 
necessary  changes  are  made  in  the  title  pages. — Thus  the 
only  liberty  taken  with  the  original  text  has  been  to  correct 
a  few  errors  of  language,  while  all  other  changes  are  so 
marked  as  to  be  clearly  distinguished  as  such. 

The  circumstances  in  which  the  work  is  issued  have  not 
been  favorable  to  typographical  accuracy.  The  editor  has 
been  at  a  distance  from  the  printers  ;  and  in  order  that  suf- 
ficient care  and  labor  might  be  expended  in  preparing  the 
work  for  the  press,  and  yet  secure  its  completion  without  so 
much  delay  as  to  disappoint  subscribers,  it  has  been  needful 
to  urge  it  through  the  press  with  more  haste  than  would 
have  been  otherwise  desirable.  It  is  believed  however,  that 
typographical  errors  will  not  be  found  to  any  unusual  extent. 

The  editor  would  express  his  grateful  acknowledgments  to 
S.  F.  Haven,  Esq.,  and  E.  M.  Barton,  Esq.,  librarians  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  Mass.,  for  their 
kindness   and  courtesy  in  giving  free  access  to  the  rare  and 


VI  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

extensive  archaeological  library  under  their  charge,  and  for 
the  aid  which  they  have  been  always  ready  to  lend  in  con- 
sulting it ;  to  his  venerable  relative,  Rev.  Silas  Hall,  of 
Raynham,  Mass.,  who  placed  at  his  disposal  a  large,  care- 
fully prepared  and  most  valuable  collection  of  manuscripts 
relating  to  the  history  of  New  England  Baptists, — a  collec- 
tion which  has  added  much  to  the  value  of  other  historical 
works  before  this,  and  in  which  much  valuable  material  still 
remains  untouched  ; — to  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society, 
for  permission  to  use  the  Diary  of  John  Comer ;  to  Reuben 
A.  Guild,  Esq.,  librarian  of  Brown  University,  for  permission 
to  use  the  Diary  of  Hez^kiah  Smith,  and  for  other  assist- 
ance; to  Rev.  C.  E.  Barrows,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  and  to 
William  E.  Clarke,  of  Conneaut,  Oo.,  for  valuable  material 
used  in  foot-notes;  and  to  Alden  A.  Howe,  Esq.,  of  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  for  preparing  the  Index. 

Worcester,  Mass.,  December  5,  1870. 


author's  preface  to  VOLUME  I. 


History  has  been  so  often  written  and  improved,  either  for  party  purposes, 
or  mere  amusement,  that  some  serious  persons  have  beeu  ready  to  treat  it 
as  a  thing  foreign  to  religion,  and  of  little  service  to  mankiud.  Yet  the 
same  persons  will  readily  own,  that  nothing  teaches  like  experience  ;  and 
what  is  true  history  but  the  experiences  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us? 
of  which  perhaps  none  have  been  more  remarkable,  since  the  affairs  of 
Canaan,  than  those  of  this  country.  And  as  the  present  contests  about  lib- 
erty and  government  are  very  great,  they  call  loudly  for  all  the  light  there- 
in that  can  be  gained  from  every  quarter. 

Mr.  Rollin,  in  his  ancient  history,  says,  "The  powers  that  be  are  or- 
dained of  God  ;  but  neither  every  use  that  is  made  of  this  power,  nor  every 
means  for  the  attainment  of  it,  are  from  God,  though  every  power  be  of 
him.  And  when  we  see  these  governments  degenerating,  sometimes  to 
violence,  factions,  despotic  sway  and  tyranny,  'tis  wholly  to  the  passions  of 
mankind  that  we  must  ascribe  those  irregularities  which  are  directly  oppo- 
site to  the  primitive  institution  of  states  ;  and  which  a  superior  wisdom 
afterwards  reduces  to  order,  always  making  them  contribute  to  the  execu- 
tion of  his  designs,  full  of  equity  and  justice.  This  scene  highly  deserves 
our  attention  and  admiration.  It  is  with  a  view  of  making  the  reader  at- 
tentive to  this  object,  that  I  thick  it  incumbent  on  me  to  add  to  the  account 
of  facts  and  events  what  regards  the  manners  and  customs  of  nations  ;  be- 
cause these  shew  their  genius  and  character,  which  we  may  call,  in  some 
measure,  the  soul  of  history." 

Now  it  may  well  be  supposed,  that  men  who  are  striving  for  more  power 
over  others  than  belongs  to  them,  will  not  nor  cannot  set  either  their  own 
or  their  opponents'  "genius  and  character"  in  their  just  light.  And  if  it 
should  be  found,  that  nearly  all  the  histories  of  this  country  which  are  much 
known,  have  been  written  by  persons  who  thought  themselves  invested  with 
power  to  act  as  lawgivers  and  judges  for  their  neighbors,  under  the  name 
either  of  orthodoxy,  or  of  immediate  power  from  heaven,  the  inference  will 
be  strong,  that  our  affairs  have  never  been  set  in  so  clear  light  as  they  ought 


Till  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  be  ;  and  if  this  is  not  indeed  the  case  I  am  greatly  mistaken  ;  of  which 
the  following  account  will  enable  the  reader  to  judge  for  himself. 

The  greatest  objection  that  I  have  heard  against  this  design  is,  that  we 
ought  not  to  rake  up  the  ashes  of  our  good  fathers,  nor  to  rehearse  those 
old  controversies,  which  will  tend  to  increase  our  present  difficulties.  But 
what  is  meant  by  this  objection?  To  reveal  secrets,  or  to  repeat  matters 
that  have  been  well  settled  between  persons  or  parties,  is  forbidden,  and  its 
effects  are  very  pernicious  ;  but  what  is  that  to  a  history  of  public  facts, 
and  an  examination  of  the  principles  and  conduct,  both  of  oppressors,  and 
of  the  oppressed? 

Men  who  are  still  fond  of  arbitrary  power  may  make  the  above  objec- 
tion ;  but  a  learned  and  ingenious  predobaptist  that  felt  the  effects  of  such 
power,  lately  said,  "The  Presbyterians,  I  confess,  formerly  copied  too 
nearly  the  Episcopalians.  The  genuine  principles  of  universal  and  impar- 
tial liberty  were  very  little  understood  by  any ;  and  all  parties  were  too 
much  involved  in  the  guilt  of  intolerance  and  persecution.  The  dissenters 
in  our  times  freely  acknowledge  this,  and  condemn  the  narrow  principles  of 
many  of  their  predecessors  ;  having  no  objection  to  transmitting  down  to 
posterity,  in  their  true  colors,  the  acts  of  oppression  and  intolerance  of 
which  all  sects  have  been  guilty.  Not  indeed,  as  is  sometimes  done,  with 
a  view  of  encouraging  such  conduct  in  one  party  by  the  example  of  others  ; 
but  of  exposing  it  alike  in  all,  and  preventing  it  wholly,  if  possible,  in  time 
to  come."1  This  is  the  great  design  of  the  eosuing  work  ;  and  such  a 
work  seems  essentially  necessary  to  that  end.  For  as  every  one  is  ortho- 
dox to  himself,  they  who  have  oppressed  others,  have  always  denied  it. 
After  our  Baptist  fathers  in  Boston,  had  been  greatly  injured  for  fifteen 
years,  they  published  a  vindication  of  their  character ;  but  as  to  their  suf- 
ferings, contented  themselves  with  saying,  "  Some  of  us  were  oftentimes 
brought  before  councils  and  courts,  threatened,  fined,  our  estates  taken 
away,  imprisoned  and  banished."  A  noted  minister  called  their  vindica- 
tion a  fallacious  narrative,  and  said,  "Errors  lie  in  generals,  a  particular 
account  might  have  been  more  satisfying."2  Here  therefore  are  a  great 
number  of  particulars  with  good  vouchers  to  support  them  ;  which  shew 
that  oppression  on  religious  accounts  was  not  of  the  first  principles  of  New 
England,  but  was  an  intruder  that  came  in  afterward. 

When  I  was  requested  by  several  gentlemen  of  note  and  others,  to  un- 
dertake this  work,  two  great  objections  presented  themselves  to  my  mind 
against  it ;  namely,  my  great  unfitness  for  it,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtain- 
ing the  necessary  materials.  But  their  importunity  prevailed  against  the 
first,  and  divine  providence  has  removed  the  other,  by  couveyiug  into  my 
hands  a  variety  of  authentic  materials,  much  beyond  what  I  conceived 
could  have  now  been  obtained  in  the  world.     Mauy  of  them  I  have  taken 

^urneaux's  letter  to  Blackstone,  p.  74.  sYVillard's  Ne  sator,  p.  10. 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE  TO  VOLUME  I.  IX 

from  the  ancient  records  of  the  colonies  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  Provi- 
dence and  Rhode  Island,  as  well  as  the  records  of  the  United  Colonies  ; 
though  I  regret  the  want  of  better  acquaintance  with  the  two  latter,  before 
the  first  two  hundred  pages  of  our  history  were  printed  off.  Many  other 
records  have  also  been  serviceable  ;  and  I  would  now  return  my  public 
thanks  to  the  several  gentlemen  who  are  keepers  of  them,  for  the  candid 
and  kind  treatment  they  have  shown  on  this  occasion.  A  great  variety  of 
other  manuscripts  have  been  serviceable  to  me,  whereof  Mr.  Hubbard's 
History,  and  extracts  from  Governor  Winthrop's  Journal  are  not  the  least. 
It  is  to  be  noted,  that  ouly  the  word  "Hubbard"  in  the  following  quota- 
tions refers  to  that  history,  in  distinction  from  another  valuable  collection, 
of  which  take  the  following  account : — Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard  came  over  to 
Salem  in  1633,  in  his  youth  ;  joined  to  Watertown  church  in  1635  ;  but 
went  the  same  year  up  to  "Windsor,  [Conn.]  where  he  soon  married  a 
church  member  that  removed  from  Dorchesfer,  and  they  settled  at  Weathers- 
field  ;  till  in  May,  1639,  they  removed  to  Springfield,  and  he  was  one  of 
the  five  men  who  first  joined  in  founding  that  church.  It  was  constituted 
under  Connecticut  government,  but  falling  afterward  into  the  Massachusetts, 
he  removed  in  1647  to  Fairfield.  Though  he  says,  "God  having  enlight- 
ened both,  but  mostly  my  wife,  into  his  holy  ordinance  of  baptizing  only 
visible  believers  ;  and  being  zealous  for  it,  she  was  mostly  struck  at,  and 
answered  twice  publicly,  where  I  was  also  said  to  be  as  bad  as  she,  and 
threatened  with  imprisonment  to  Hartford  goal,  if  we  did  not  renounce  it 
or  remove.  That  Scripture  came  into  our  minds,  If  they  persecute  you 
in  one  place,  flee  to  another."  Whereupon  they  removed  to  Newport,  and 
joined  to  Elder  Clarke's  church  there  on  November  3,  1648,  where  they 
lived  to  old  age  :  from  whence  he  repeatedly  visited  his  suffering  brethren 
at  Boston,  and  had  an  extensive  correspondence  both  in  Europe  and 
America  ;  and  he  copied  several  hundred  of  his  own  and  others'  letters  in- 
to a  book,  which  I  am  now  favored  with  ;  containing  a  fund  of  intelligence, 
from  1641  to  1688.  The  writings  and  papers  also  of  our  elders,  Holmes, 
Comer,  Callender  and  others,  have  been  useful  in  this  design.  Though, 
for  want  of  room,  I  have  been  forced  to  leave  a  great  many  valuable  arti- 
cles out  of  this  volume,  and  to  give  but  a  sketch  of  things  in  latter  times. 
However  I  propose  by  divine  leave  to  preserve  and  digest  them  in  the  best 
manner  I  can,  for  the  use  of  those  who  may  come  after  us  ;  and  should 
be  glad  to  obtain  accounts  of  the  rise,  progress  and  present  state  of  all 
our  churches  for  the  same  end. 

In  the  following  work,  Plymouth  Register  intends  an  account  of  their 
church  from  its  beginning,  written  by  our  County  Register,  and  annexed  to 
Mr.  Robbins's  Ordination  Sermon,  1760.1  The  History  of  Providence 
means  what  was  published  of  that  nature  in  their  Gazette  in  1765.2  Per- 
haps the  rest  of  my  authorities  are  sufficiently  described.  So  great  a  part 
Ib 


X  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

of  this  history  is  given  in  the  words  of  others,  that  continued  marks  of 
quotation  would  have  been  tedious  ;  therefore  many  passages  only  begin 
and  end  therewith.3  In  the  excellent  letter  you  have  in  pages  311 — 313, 
I  have  marked  the  words  which  were  necessarily  supplied  to  complete  the 
sense  ;  but  though  I  have  as  strictly  kept  to  the  true  sense  in  all  my  quo- 
tations as  in  that,  yet  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  continue  such 
marks  in  all.  In  the  dates,  where  our  fathers  began  the  year  with  March, 
I  have  either  plainly  noted  it,  or  else  have  begun  the  year  with  January, 
only  have  let  the  old  style  stand  till  it  was  altered  here  by  law.  Of  the 
moneys,  Mr.  Prince  says  they  were  reckoned  sterling  till  1640.  In  1652, 
when  they  first  coined  silver  here,  one  pound  of  it  was  fifteen  shillings 
sterling,  and  so  it  continued  to  1690,  when  they  began  to  make  paper 
money,  which  gradually  depreciated  from  six  shillings  to  forty-five  shillings 
for  a  Spanish  milled  dollar.  In  1750  our  currency  was  brought  back  to 
what  it  was  a  hundred  years  before,  and  that  is  our  lawful  money  ever 
since.  A  dash  [ — ]  in  a  quotation  signifies  the  omission  of  something 
there  for  brevity's  sake  ;4  betwixt  figures,  it  is  to  extend  the  reference  from 
one  number  to  the  other. 

Whoever  considers  the  difficulty  of  compiling  such  a  work  with  exact- 
ness, together  with  the  confusion  of  the  present  times,  and  the  author's  dis- 
tance from  the  press,  will  not  be  severe  upon  him  for  every  imperfection  that 
may  be  discovered  therein  ;  though  he  has  named  his  principal  vouchers  on 
purpose  to  have  his  performance  thoroughly  examined,  and  every  material 
mistake  corrected.  Sincerity  and  impartiality  are  allowed  to  be  the  most 
essential  rules  of  history  ;  how  far  they  appear  in  this  the  reader  will 
judge.  Only  the  author  must  say,  that  he  has  acted  under  a  full  belief, 
that  with  what  measure  we  mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  us  again  ;  so  that 
we  cannot  injure  others  in  any  case,  without  therein  wronging  our  own 
souls.  And  to  impress  this  great  truth  upon  all  minds,  is  the  aim  and 
earnest  desire  of  their  humble  servant, 

ISAAC  BACKUS. 

Middleborough,  July  9,  1777. 

'"An  account  of  the  church  of  Christ  in  Plymouth,  the  first  church  in  New  Eng- 
land, from  its  establishment  unto  the  present  day.  By  John  Cotton,  Esq.,  member 
of  said  church."  This  work  was  published  in  1760.  It  is  republished  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  107—141. — Ei>. 

'"This  tract  has  been  usually  ascribed  to  the  venerable  Stephen  Hopkins,  who  for 
eight  years  had  been  Governor  of  the  colony,  and  served  in  that  office  one  year  af- 
ter, but  is  better  known  as  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence." 
Introductory  note  to  "An  Account  of  Providence,  II.  I.,"  as  republished  in  the 
husctts  Historical  Collections,  Second  Series,  Vol.  IX.  — Ed. 

'According  to  modern  usage,  this  is  the  case  with  all  the  quotations  in  the  present 
edition. — Ed. 

4In  the  present  edition,  such  omissions  are  indicated  by  dots  [ ]. — Ed. 


History  of  the  Baptists  in  New  England. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  sentiments  and  character  of  the  first  planters  of  this  coun- 
try, WITH  THEIR  PROCEEDINGS  DOWN  TO  THE  YEAR  1634. 

To  obtain  clear  and  just  ideas  of  the  affairs  of  the  Bap- 
tists in  New  England,  it  seems  necessary  for  us  to  look  back 
to  its  first  settlement,  and  carefully  to  examine  what  were 
the  sentiments  and  character  of  the  original  planters.  Those 
that  began  the  first  colony  were  called  Separatists,  because 
of  their  withdrawal  from  the  national  church  of  England; 
and  different  parties  have  accused  them  with  rigidness  there- 
in; but  ingenuous  minds  will  not  choose  to  be  turned  off 
with  hard  names,  without  knowing  what  is  meant  by  them; 
therefore  let  us  hear  those  fathers  tell  their  own  story.  They 
separated  from  the  national  church  near  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century,  and  formed  societies  for  worship  by  them- 
selves ;  till,  after  suffering  much  from  the  ruling  party  in 
their  native  country,  they  left  it,  and  sojourned  about  twelve 
years  in  Holland,  and  then  removed  to  this  land. 

About  the  time  of  their  fleeing  into  Holland,  Mr.  Richard 
Bernard,  an  Episcopal  minister  in  Nottinghamshire,  out  of 
which  many  of  those  fathers  removed,  published  a  book 


2  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

against  them,  which  he  called  "The  Separatist's  Schism,"  to 
which  Mr.  John  Robinson,  the  pastor  of  the  church  which 
afterward  began  the  settlement  of  New  England,  published 
an  answer  in  1610,  entitled,  "A  Justification  of  Separation 
from  the  Church  of  England."  As  I  am  favored  with  this 
performance,  containing  four  hundred  and  seventy-six  pages 
in  quarto,  I  shall  from  thence  give  the  reader  the  author's 
own  words  upon  the  most  material  points  of  their  contro- 
versy, and  the  rather,  because  the  writings  of  that  eminent 
father  of  our  country  are  very  little  known  at  this  day 
among  us. 

Mr.  Bernard  began  his  book  with  some  things  which  he 
called  "  Christian  Counsels  of  Peace,"  to  which  Mr.  Robin- 
son answers1: — 

As  God  is  the  God  of  peace,  so  are  not  they  God's  children  which  desire 
it  not ;  yea,  even  in  the  midst  of  their  contentions.  But  as  all  vices  use 
to  clothe  themselves  with  the  habits  of  virtues,  that  under  their  [those] 
liveries  they  may  get  countenance,  and  find  the  more  free  passage  iu  the 
world,  so  especially  in  the  church,  all  tyranny  and  confusion  do  present 
themselves  under  this  color,  taking  up  the  politic  pretence  of  peace,  as  a 
weapon  of  more  advantage,  wherewith  the  stronger  and  greater  party  useth 
to  beat  the  weaker.  The  papists  press  the  protestants  with  the  peace  of 
the  church,  and,  for  the  rent  [which]  they  have  made  in  it,  condemn  them 
beyond  the  heathenish  soldiers,  which  forebore  to  divide  Christ's  garment ; 
as  deeply  do  the  bishops  charge  the  ministers  refusing  conformity  and  sub- 
scription,2 and  both  of  them  us.     But  the  godly  wise  must  not  be  affrighted 

'It  is  perhaps  unfortunate,  rhetorically,  that  these  long  and,  to  the  general  reader, 
somewhat  tedious  extracts  from  the  work  of  Robinson  are  introduced  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  History.  Such  a  reader  may  need  to  pass  lightly  over  these 
first  pages,  suspending  his  judgment  of  the  work  till  be  reaches  the  commence- 
ment of  the  narrative. 

These  extracts  have  heen  carefully  collated  with  the  work  from  which  they  were 
taken,  as  found  in  Vol.  II  of  the  works  of  John  Robinson,  published  by  the  Congre- 
gational Board,  London,  1851.  The  differences  found,  where  there  was  not  an 
Obvious  error,  are  here  indicated  in  brackets.  Many  words  and  phrases,  not  strictly 
iry  to  the  sense,  were  found  to  have  heen  omitted,  some  of  which  are  here 
supplied  in  brackets.  The  figures  in  brackets  refer  to  the  pages  of  the  above-men- 
tioned volume.— Ml). 

■The  main  of  those  who  afterward  settled  the  Massachusetts  colony  were  of  this 
sort;  they  refused  lull  conformity  to  the  national  church,  and  yet  condemned  an 
entire  separation  from  it. 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  ROBIXSON.  3 

either  from  seeking  or  embracing  the  truth  with  such  bugs  as  these  are, 
but  seeing  "the  wisdom  which  is  from  above,  is  first  pure,  then  peacea- 
ble," he  must  make  it  a  great  part  of  his  Christian  wisdom  to  discern 
betwixt  godly  and  gracious  peace,  and  that  which  is  either  pretended  for 
advantage,  or  mistaken  by  error,  and  so  [to]  labor  to  hold  peace  in  purity. 
Let  it  then  be  manifested  unto  us,  that  the  communion  which  the  church  of 
England  hath  with  all  the  wicked  in  the  land,  without  separation,  is  a  pure 
communion  ;  that  their  service  book,  devised  and  prescribed  in  so  many 
words  and  letters?  to  be  read  over  and  over  with  all  the  appurtenances,  is 
a  pure  worship  ;  that  their  government  by  national,  provincial  and  diocesan 
bishops,  according  to  their  canons,  is  a  pure  government,  and  then  let  us  be 
blamed  if  we  hold  not  peace  with  them  in  word  and  deed  ;  otherwise, 
though  they  speak  [spake]  unto  us  never  so  oft,  both  by  messengers  and 
mouth  of  peace,  and  again  of  peace,  as  Jehoram  did  to  Jehu,  yet  must  we 
answer  them  in  effect  as  Jehu  did  Jehoram,  What  peace,  whilst  the  whore- 
doms of  the  mother  of  fornications  [fornicators],  the  Jezebel  of  Rome,  do 
remain  in  so  great  number  amongst  them  ?  And  I  doubt  not  but  Mr.  Ber- 
nard, and  a  thousand  more  ministers  in  the  land  (were  they  secure  of  the 
magistrate's  sword,  and  might  they  go  on  with  [his]  good  license)  would 
wholly  shake  off  their  canonical  obedience  to  their  ordinaries,  and  neglect 
their  citations  and  censures,  and  refuse  to  sue  in  their  courts,  for  all  the 
peace  of  the  church  which  they  commend  to  us  for  so  sacred  a  thing. 
Could  they  but  obtain  license  from  the  magistrate  to  use  the  liberties  [lib- 
erty] which  they  are  persuaded  Christ  hath  given  them,  they  would  soon 
shake  off  the  prelates'  yoke,  and  draw  no  longer  under  the  same  in  spirit- 
ual communion  with  all  the  profane  in  the  land,  but  would  break  those 
bonds  of  iniquity,  as  easily  as  Samson  did  the  cords  wherewith  Delilah 
tied  him,  and  give  good  reasons  also  from  the  word  of  God  for  their  so 
doing.     Pp.  13,  14.     [12,  13.] 

Whoever  reads  and  well  observes  the  history  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts colony,  I  believe,  will  find  that  those  remarks  were 
neither  enthusiastic  nor  censorious,  but  that  they  discover 
great  knowledge,  and  a  good  judgment  both  in  human  and 
divine   concernments.     Mr.  Robinson  proceeds  and  says: — 

These  things  I  thought  good  to  commend  to  the  reader,  that  he  may  be 
the  more  cautious  of  this  and  the  like  colorable  pretences,  wishing  him 
also  well  to  remember,  that  peace  in  disobedience  is  that  old  theme  of  the 
false  prophets,  whereby  they  flattered  the  mighty,  and  deceived  the  simple. 
Jer.  vi.  14,  and  viii.  11 In  the  church  of  England  we  do  acknowl- 
edge many  excellent  truths  of  doctrine,  which  we  also  teach  without  com- 


4  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

mixture  of  error,  many  Christian  ordinances  which  we  also  practise,  being 
purged  from  the  pollution  of  antichrist ;  and,  for  the  godly  persons  in  it, 
(could  we  possibly  separate  them  from  the  profane)  we  would  gladly 
embrace  them  with  both  arms.  But,  being  taught  by  the  apostle,  speaking 
but  of  one  wicked  person,  and  of  one  Jewish  ordinance,  that  "a  little 
leaven  leaveneth  the  whole  lump,"  1  Cor,  v.  6,  Gal.  v.  9,  we  caunot  be 
ignorant  how  sour  the  English  assemblies  must  needs  be  ;  neither  may  we 
justly  be  blamed  though  we  dare  not  dip  in  their  meal,  lest  we  be  soured 
by  their  leaven.     Pp.  15,  16.     [14,  15.] 

To  Mr.  B.,  who  counsels  that  we  should  "bear  with  lighter 
faults  for  a  time,  till  fit  occasion  be  offered  to  have  them 
amended,"  he  replies  :  — 

1.  No  sin  is  light  in  itself,  but  being  continued  in  and  countenanced, 
destroyeth  the  sinner.  Matt.  v.  19.  2.  It  is  the  property  of  a  profane 
and  hardened  heart  evermore  to  extenuate  and  lessen  sins.  3.  Though 
the  bearing  and  forbearing,  not  only  of  small  but  even  of  great  sins  also, 
must  be  for  a  time,  yet  it  must  be  but  for  a  time,  and  that  is  whilst 
reformation  be  orderly  sought  and  procured.  Lev.  xix.  17.  But  what 
time  hath  wrought  in  the  church  of  England,  all  men  see  growing  daily, 
by  the  just  judgment  of  God,  from  evil  to  worse,  and  being  never  afore- 
time so  impatient  either  of  reformation  or  other  good  as  at  this  day. 
4.  A  man  must  so  bear  evil,  as  he  be  no  way  accessory  unto  it,  by  for- 
bearing any  means  appointed  by  Christ  for  the  amending  it.     P.  16.     [15.] 

I  see  not  upon  what  occasion  the  author  should  shuffle  into  this  contro- 
versy, which  is  merely  ecclesiastical,  such  considerations  as  he  doth  con- 
cerning the  frame  and  alteration  of  civil  states,  except  he  would  either  in- 
sinuate against  us,  that  Ave  went  about  to  alter  the  civil  state  of  the  king- 
dom ;  or,  at  least,  that  the  alteration  of  the  state  ecclesiastical,  must  needs 
draw  with  it  the  alteration  of  the  civil  state  ;  with  which  mote  the  prelates 
have  a  long  time  bleared  the  eyes  of  the  magistrates  ;  but  how  deceitfully, 
hath  been  sufficiently  manifested,  and  offer  made  further  to  manifest  the 
same  by  solemn  disputation.  And  the  truth  is,  that  all  states  and  policies 
which  are  of  God,  whether  monarchical,  aristocratical  or  democratical,  or 
how  mixed  soever,  are  capable  of  Christ's  government.  Neither  doth  the 
nature  of  the  state,  but  the  corruption  of  the  persons,  hinder -the  same  in 

one  or  other And  where  Mr.  Bernard  further  adviseth,  rather  to 

offend  many  private  persons  than  one  lawful  magistrate,  I  doubt  not  he 
gives  no  worse  counsel  than  he  himself  follows,  who  (except  I  be  much  de- 
ceived in  him)  had  rather  offend  half  the  private  persons  in  the  diocese, 
than  one  archbishop,  though  he  be  an  unlawful  magistrate.  But  let  us  re- 
member our  care  be  not  to  offeud  the  Lord,  and  if  with  the  offence  of  a 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  EOBINSON.  5 

private  person,  though  never  so  base,  be  joined  the  offence  of  the  Lord, 
better  offend  all,  both  lawful  and  unlawful  magistrates,  in  the  world,  than 
such  a  little  one.     Matt,  xviii,  6.     Pp.  17,  18.     [17,  18.] 

Another  piece  of  counsel  given  by  Mr.  B.  is,  "Use  the 
present  good  which  thou  mayest  enjoy,  to  the  utmost ;  and 
an  experienced  good,  before  thou  dost  trouble  thyself  to 
seek  for  a  supposed  better  good,  untried,  which  thou  enjoy- 
est  not."     To  this  Mr.  R.  says  :  — 

We  may  not  stint  or  circumscribe  either  our  knowledge,  faith,  or  obedi- 
ence, within  straiter  bounds  than  the  whole  revealed  will  of  God,  in  the 
knowledge  and  obedience  whereof  we  must  daily  increase  and  edify  our- 
selves ;  much  less  must  we  suffer  ourselves  to  be  stripped  of  any  liberty 
which  Christ  our  Lord  hath  purchased  for  us,  and  given  us  to  use  for  our 
good.  Gal.  v.  i.  And  here,  as  I  take  it,  comes  in  the  case  of  many  hun- 
dreds in  the  church  of  England,  who  what  good  they  may  enjoy  (that  is 
safely  enjoy,  or  without  any  great  bodily  danger)  that  they  use  very  fully. 
Where  the  ways  of  Christ  lie  open  for  them,  by  the  authority  of  men,  and 
where  they  may  walk  safely  with  good  leave,  there  they  walk  very  up- 
rightly, and  that  a  round  pace  ;  but  when  the  commandments  of  Christ  are, 
as  it  were,  hedged  up  with  thorns,  by  men's  prohibitions,  there  they  foully 
"step  aside,  and  pitch  their  tents  by  the  flocks  of  his  fellows."  Cant.  i.  7. 
P.  23.     [23,  24.] 

Again  Mr.  B.  says,  "Never  presume  to  reform  others,  be- 
fore thou  hast  well  ordered  thyself."  To  which  Mr.  Robin- 
son answers: — 

True  zeal,  it  is  certain,  ever  begins  at  home,  and  gives  more  liberty  unto 
other  men  than  it  dares  assume  unto  itself;  and  there  is  nothing  more  true, 
and  [or]  necessary  to  be  considered,  than  that  every  man  ought  to  order 
himself  in  [and]  his  own  steps  first.  That  is  good  and  the  best,  but  not 
all ;  for  if  by  God's  commandment  we  ought  to  bring  back  our  enemy's  ox 
or  ass  that  strayeth,  how  much  more  to  bring  into  order  our  brother's  soul 
and  body,  wandering  in  by-paths?     P.  24.     [25.] 

Mr.  Bernard  went  on  to  lay  down  a  number  of  things, 
which  he  supposed  would  render  it  very  unlikely  that  a 
separation  from  them  could  be  right,  before  he  came  to  the 
merits  of  the  cause;    as,  1.  "The  novelty  thereof  differing 


O  HISTORY  OF   THE  BAPTISTS    IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

from  all  the  best  reformed  churches  in  Christendom."     To 
which  Mr.  Robinson  replies: — 

It  is  no  novelty  to  hear  men  plead  custom,  when  they  want  truth.  So 
the  heathen  philosophers  reproached  Paul  as  a  bringer  of  new  doctrine. 
Acts  xvii.  19.  So  do  the  papists  discountenance  the  doctrine  and  profes- 
sion of  the  church  of  England  ;  yea,  even  at  this  day,  very  many  of  the 
people  in  the  land  call  popery  the  old  law,  and  the  profession  there  made 
the  new  law.  But  for  our  parts,  as  we  believe,  by  the  word  of  God,  that 
the  things  we  teach  are  not  new,  but  old  truths  renewed  ;  so  are  we  no  Jess 
[fully]  persuaded,  that  the  church  constitution,  in  which  we  are  set,  is  cast 
in  the  apostolical  and  primitive  mould,  and  not  one  day  nor  hour  younger, 
in  the  nature  and  form  of  it,  than  the  first  church  of  the  New  Testament. 
P.  40.     [42,  43.] 

2.  "For  that  it  agreeeth  so  much  with  the  ancient  schis- 
matics, condemned  in  former  ages  by  holy  and  learned  men." 
Answer : — 

Can  our  way  both  be  a  novelty,  and  yet  agree  so  well  with  ancient 
schismatics?  Contraries  cannot  be  both  true,  but  may  both  be  false,  as 
these  are.     P.  42.     [44,  45.] 

Mr.  Eobinson  tells  us,  that  another  article  which  Mr.  B. 
alleged  against  them  is,  "  That  we  have  not  the  approbation  of 
any  of  the  reformed  churches  for  our  course."     Answer : — 

This  is  the  same  in  substance  with  the  first,  and  that  which  folio  wet  h  in 
the  next  place  the  same  with  them  both  ;  and  Mr.  B.  by  [his]  so  ordina- 
rily pressing  us  with  human  testimonies,  shews  himself  to  be  very  barren 
of  divine  authority.  Nature  teacheth  every  creature,  in  all  danger,  to  fly 
first  and  oftcnest  to  the  chief  instruments  either  of  offence  or  defence, 
wherein  it  trusteth,  as  the  bull  to  his  horn,  the  boar  to  his  tusk,  and  the 
bird  unto  her  wing  ;  right  so  this  man  shews  wherein  his  strength  lies,  and 
wherein  he  trusts  most,  by  [his]  so  frequent  and  usual  shaking  the  horn, 
and  whettjng  the  tusk,  of  mortal  man's  authority  against  us.  But  for  the 
reformed  churches  the  truth  is,  they  .neither  do  imagine,  nor  will  easily  be 
brought  to  believe,  that  the  frame  of  the  church  of  England  stands  as  it 
doth.  The  approbation  which  they  give  [of  you]  is  in  respect  of  such 
general  truths  of  doctrine,  as  wherein  we  also,  for  the  most  part,  acknowl- 
edge you  ;  which  notwithstanding  you  deny  in  a  great  measure  in  the  par- 
ticulars and  practice.  But  touching  the  gathering  and  governing  of  the 
•hurch,  which  are  the  main  heads  controverted  betwixt  you  and  us  ;  they 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF   JOHN  ROBINSON.  7 

give  you  not  so  much  as  the  left  hand  of  fellowship,  but  do,  on  the  con- 
trary, turn  their  backs  upon  you.  Pp.  46,  471.  [49,  50.]  Thus  much  of 
the  learned  abroad.  In  the  next  place,  Mr.  Bernard  draws  us  to  the  learued 
at  home,  from  whose  dislike  of  us  he  takes  his  fifth  likelihood,  which  he 
thus  frameth  :  uThe  condemnation  of  this  way  by  our  divines,  both  living 
and  dead,  against  whom,  either  for  godliness  of  life  or  truth  of  doctrine, 
otherwise  than  for  being  their  opposites,  they  can  take  no  exception." 

To  this,  Mr.  Robinson  answers  : — 

No  marvel.  We  may  not  admit  of  parties  for  judges.  How  is  it  pos- 
sible we  should  be  approved  of  them  in  the  things  wherein  we  witness 
against  them?  And  if  this  argument  be  good  and  [or]  likely,  then  is  it 
likely  that  neither  the  reformists  have  the  truth  in  the  church  of  Eugland, 
nor  the  prelates ;  for  there  are  many  of  those  both  godly  and  learned, 
which  in  their  differences  do  oppose,  and  that  very  vehemently,  the  one  the 
other.  Now,  as  for  my  own  part,  I  do  willingly  acknowledge  the  learning 
and  godliness  of  most  of  the  persons  named  by  Mr.  B.  and  honor  the 
memory  of  some  of  them  ;  so  neither  do  I  think  them  so  learned,  but  they 
might  err,  nor  so  godly,  but  in  their  error  they  might  reproach  the  truth 
they  saw  not.  I  do  confess  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  mine  own  shame, 
that  a  long  time  before  I  entered  this  way,  I  took  some  taste  of  the  truth 
in  it  by  some  treatises  published  in  justification  of  it,  which  [the  Lord 
knoweth]  were  sweet  as  honey  unto  my  mouth  ;  and  the  principal  thing 
which  for  the  time  quenched  all  further  appetite  in  me,  was  the  over-valu- 
ation which  I  made  of  the  learning  and  holiness  of  these  and  the  like  per- 
sons, blushing  in  myself  to  have  a  thought  of  pressing  one  hair-breadth  be- 
fore them  in  this  thing,  behind  whom  I  knew  myself  to  come   so  many 

JThe  ways  of  the  church  of  England,  wherein  we  forsake  her,  do  directly  and  ex 
diametro  cross  and  thwart  the  ways  of  the  reformed  churches,  in  these  three  main 
heads  : — I.  The  reformed  churches  are  gathered  of  a  free  people,  joined  together 
by  voluntary  profession,  without  compulsion  of  human  laws.  On  the  contrary,  the 
church  of  England  consists  of  a  people  forced  together  violently  by  the  laws  of 
men  into  their  provincial,  diocesan  and  parishional  churches  (as  their  houses  stand) 
be  they  never  so  unwilling  or  unfit.  2.  The  reformed  churches  do  renounce  the 
ministry  of  the  church  of  England,  as  she  doth  theirs  ;  not  admitting  of  any  by  vir- 
tue of  it  to  charge  of  souls,  as  they  speak,  where,  on  the  contrary,  all  the  mass- 
priests  made  in  Queen  Mary's  days,  which  would  say  their  book-service  in  English, 
were  continued  ministers  by  the  same  ordination  which  they  received  from  popish 
prelates.  3.  The  government  by  archbishops,  lord  bishops  and  their  substitutes,  in 
the  church  of  England,  is  abhorred  and  disclaimed  in  the  reformed  churches  as  anti- 
christian ;  as  is,  on  the  contrary,  the  Presbyterian  government,  in  use  there,  by  the 
church  of  England  refused,  as  anabaptistical  and  seditious.     P.  52.     [55,  56.] 

Here  we  may  see  how  the  very  name  of  Anabaptist  was  used  as  a  weapon  to  fight 
against  reformation  in  Mr.  Robinson's  day,  and  the  practice  is  still  followed  by  many. 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

miles  in  all  other  things  ;  yea  and  even  of  late  times,  when  I  had  entered 
into  a  more  serious  consideration  of  these  things,  and,  according  to  the 
measure  of  grace  received,  searched  the  Scriptures,  whether  they  were  so 
or  no,  and  by  searching  found  much  light  and  truth,  yet  was  the  same  so 
dimmed  and  overclouded  with  the  contradictions  of  these  men,  and  others 
of  the  like  note,  that  had  not  the  truth  been  in  my  heart  as  a  burning  fire 
shut  up  in  my  bones,  Jer.  xx.  9,  I  had  never  broken  those  bonds  of  flesh 
and  blood,  but  had  suffered  the  light  of  God  to  have  been  put  out  in  my 
[mine  own]  unthankful  heart,  by  other  men's  darkness. 

Every  man  stands  bound  to  give  this  reverence  to  the  graces  of  God  in 
other  men,  that  in  his  differences  with  [from]  them  he  be  not  suddenly  nor 
easily  persuaded,  but  that  being  jealous  of  his  own  heart,  he  undertake  the 
examination  of  things,  and  so  proceed  with  fear  and  trembling,  and  having 
tried  all  things,  keep  that  which  is  good  ;  1  Thes.  v.  21  ;  so  shall  he  neither 
wrong  the  graces  of  God  in  himself,  nor  in  others.  But  on  the  other  side, 
for  a  man  so  far  to  suffer  his  thoughts  to  be  conjured  into  the  circle  of  any 
[mortal]  man's  or  men's  judgment,  as  either  to  fear  to  try  what  is  offered 
to  the  contrary,  in  the  balance  of  the  sanctuary,  or  finding  it  to  bear  weight, 
to  fear  to  give  sentence  on  the  Lord's  side,  yea  though  it  be  against  the 
mighty,  this  is  to  honor  men  above  God,  and  to  advance  a  throne  above 
the  throne  of  Christ,  who  is  Lord  and  King  forever.  And  to  speak  that 
in  this  case,  which  by  doleful  experience  I  myself  have  found,  many  of 
the  most  forward  professors  in  the  kingdom  are  well  nigh  as  snperstitiously 
addicted  to  the  determinations  of  their  guides  and  teachers,  as  the  ignorant 
papists  unto  theirs  ;  accounting  it  not  only  needless  curiosity,  but  even  in- 
tolerable arrogancy,  to  call  in  question  the  things  received  from  them  by 
tradition.  But  how  much  better  were  it  for  all  men  to  lay  aside  these  and 
the  like  prejudices,  that  so  they  might  understand  the  things  which  concern 
their  peace,  and  seeing  with  their  own  eyes,  might  live  by  their  own  faith. 

And,  for  these  famous  men  named  by  Mr.  B.,  (with  whose  oppositions, 
as  with  Zedekiah's  horns  of  iron,  he  would  push  us  here  and  everywhere) 
as  we  hear  their  reproofs  with  patience,  and  acknowledge  their  worth 
[worths]  without  envy  or  detraction,  so  do  we  know  they  were  but  men, 
and  through  human  frailty  might  be  abused  as  well,  or  rather  as  ill,  to  sup- 
port antichrist  in  a  measure,  as  others  before  them  have  been,  though  godly 
and  learned  as  they.  It  will  not  be  denied  but  the  fathers,  as  they  are 
called,  Ignatius,  Ircnams,  Tertulliau,  Cyprian,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  Austin, 
and  the  rest,  were  both  godly  and  learned,  yet  no  man,  if  he  have  but  even 
saluted  them,  can  be  ignorant  what  way,  though  unwittingly,  they  made 
for  the  advancement  of  antichrist  which  followed  alter  them  ;  and  if  they, 
notwithstanding  their  learning  and  godliness,  thus  ushered  him  into  the 
world,  why  might  not  others,  and  that  more  likely,  though  learned  and 
godly  as  the  former,  help  to  bear  up  his  train?  especially  considering  that 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF   JOHN  ROBINSON.  9 

as  his  rising  was  not,  so  neither  could  his  fall  be  perfected  at  once.  And, 
for  us,  what  do  we  more  or  otherwise,  for  the  most  part,  than  walk  in  those 
ways  into  which  divers  of  the  persons  by  Mr.  B.  named  have  directed  us 
by  the  word  of  God,  in  manifesting  unto  us  by  the  light  thereof  what  the 
ministry,  government,  worship,  and  fellowship  of  the  gospel  ought  to  be1? 
We  then  being  taught,  and  believing  that  the  word  of  God  is  a  light  and 
lantern,  not  only  to  our  eyes,  but  to  our  feet  and  paths,  as  the  psalmist 
speaketh,  Psal.  cxix.  105,  cannot  possibly  conceive  how  Ave  should  justly 
be  blamed  by  these  men  for  observing  the  ordinances  which  themselves  not 
only  acknowledged,  but  contended  for,  as  appointed  by  Christ,  to  be  kept 
inviolable  till  his  appearing,  as  some  of  them  have  expressly  testified. 

To  conclude,  let  not  the  Christian  reader  cast  our  persons,  and  the  per- 
sons of  our  opposites,  whether  these  or  others,  in  the  balance  together  ;  but 
rather  our  cause  and  reasons,  with  their  oppositions  and  the  grounds  of 
them,  and  so  with  [a]  steady  hand,  and  impartial  eye,  poise  cause  with 
cause,  that  so  the  truth  of  God  may  not  be  prejudiced  by  men's  persons, 
nor  held  in  respect  of  them.     Pp.  48 — 53.     [51 — 54.] 

By  these  free  and  plain  declarations  the  reader  may  be 
able  to  judge,  whether  the  reproach  of  rigidness  properly 
belongs  to  Mr.  Robinson,  or  to  his  accusers  and  persecutors  ; 
yet  because  he  would  not  stay  in  the  church  of  England, 
when  he  was  convinced  of  its  being  wrong  so  to  do,  Mr. 
Bernard    accuses  him  and  his  brethren  of  either  denying 

*For  proof  of  this,  Mr.  Eobinson,  in  another  place,  cites  a  number  of  passages, 
written,  he  says,  "by  such  men  as  I  dare  say  Mr.  B.  reckons  amongst  the  painful 
and  conscionable  ministers."  Their  words  are  these  : — "The  names  and  offices  of 
archbishops,  archdeacons,  lord  bishops,  &c.  are,  together  with  their  government, 
drawn  out  of  the  pope's  shop,  antichristian,  [devilish]  and  contrary  to  the  Scriptures. 
Parsons,  vicars,  parish  priests,  stipendiaries,  &c.  he  birds  of  the  same  feather." 
2d  Admo.  to  the  Parliament,  [By  Thos.  Cartwright.]  "There  is  no  true  visible 
church  of  Christ,  but  a  particular  congregation  only."  Christian  Offer,  prop.  4. 
"  Every  true  visible  church  of  Christ,  or  ordinary  assembly  of  the  faithful,  hath,  by 
Christ's  ordinance,  power  in  itself  immediately  under  Christ  to  elect,  to  ordain,  de- 
prive and  depose  their  ministers,  and  to  execute  all  other  ecclesiastical  censures." 
Ibid.,  prop.  5.  "  The  visible  church  of  Christ,  wheresoever  it  be,  hath  the  power  of 
binding  and  loosing  annexed  unto  it,  as  our  Saviour,  Christ  teacheth;"  Matt,  xviii. 
Discovery  of  Dr.  Bancroft's  Slanders.  [Preface.]  "Amongst  us  the  holy  mysteries 
of  God  are  profaned,  the  Gentiles  enter  into  the  temple  of  God,  the  holy  things  are 
indifferently  communicated  with  the  clean  and  unclean."  Plain  Declaration. 
"Now,"  says  Mr.  Robinson,  "  let  the  [indifferent]  reader  judge  whether  these  men 
in  thus  writing  have  not  opened  the  door  unto  us,  by  which  themselves  enter  not." 
Pp.  75,  76.     [81,  82.] 


10  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

their  conversion  there,  or  else  of  accounting  it  a  false  one. 
To  which  Mr.  R.  answers : — 

For  our  personal  conversion  in  the  church  of  England,  we  deny  it  not, 
but  do,  and  always  have  done,  judge  and  profess  it  true  there  ;  and  so 
was  Luther's  conversion  true  in  the  church  of  Rome,  else  could  not  his 
separation  from  Rome  have  been  of  faith,  or  accepted  of  God.  P.  G9. 
[75.] 

And  now  for  particular  sentiments  about  church  affairs. 
Mr.  llobinson's  opponent  had  said,  "  The  word  is  the  consti- 
tution of  the  church."     To  which  he  replies  : — 

His  meaning  is  or  should  be,  that  the  word  is  the  ordinary  [outward] 
means  for  collecting  and  constituting  the  church  of  God.  I  grant  it.  But 
how  considered?  Not  the  word  in  men's  Bibles  alone,  for  then  all  the 
heretics  in  the  world  were  true  churches  [are  true  Christians]  ;  nor  yet 
the  word  preached  simply,  for  Paul  preached  the  word  to  the  scomug 
Athenians,  and  to  the  blasphemous  Jews,  yet  I  think  he  will  not  say  that 
either  the  one  or  the  other  were  churches  truly  constituted.  How  then? 
The  word  published,  understood,  believed  and  obeyed,  outwardly  at  the 
least,  as  the  spiritual  sword  or  axe,  hewing  the  stones  in  the  rock,  and  the 
trees  in  the  forest,  and  preparing  them  to  be  the  Lord's  spiritual  house. 
And  thus  much  the  very  places  produced  by  Mr.  B.  [like  Goliath's  sword 
drawn  out  to  cut  off  his  own  head,]  do  evidently  declare. 

Matt,  xxviii.  19,  which  is  the  first  place,  shows  that  such  as  by  preach- 
ing of  the  word  were  made  disciples,  for  so  much  the  word  [Mafyzi'j craze] 
importeth,  were  to  be  gathered  into  the  church  and  baptized.  Mark  xvi. 
15,  shows  the  same,  especially  if  you  add  verse  16,  inferring  that  men  by 
preaching  must  believe,  and  so  believe  as  they  have  the  promise  of  salvation. 
2  Cor.  v.  19,  and  xi.  2,  prove  that  the  word  of  reconciliation  and  ministry  of 
the  gospel,  believed  and  obeyed  to  the  forgiveness  of  sius,  and  to  the  prepara- 
tion and  sanctification  of  the  church  of  [to]  Christ,  is  the  means  of  gather- 
ing and  building  up  the  same.  Acts  ii.  14,  37,  38,  41,  and  xvi.  32 — 34, 
are  of  the  same  nature  [with  the  former],  and  do  prove  that  sundry  of  the 
Jews  at  Jerusalem,  by  Peter's  preaching,  and  that  the  jailer's  household  at 
Philippi,  by  Paul's  preaching,  were  brought  to  repentance,  and  faith  in 
Christ,  and  SO  added  to  the  church.  But  what  will  be  the  conclusion  of 
all  these  premises?  The  proposition  is  this: — The  true  apostolic  churches 
basing  a  true  constitution,  were  gathered  and  constituted  of  such  men  and 
women  as  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  were  made  disciples,  had  faith 
and  repentance  wrought  in  them,  to  the  obtaining  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
and  promise  of  life  eternal,  and  to  sanctification  and  obedience.  Pp.  89, 
90.  [95,  96.] 


]1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  KOBINSON.  1 1 

Of  baptism  Mr.  Robinson  says  : — 

The  proper  ends  and  uses  of  baptism  are  to  initiate  the  parties  baptized 
into  the  church  of  Christ,  and  to  consecrate  them  to  his  service,  and  so  to 
serve  for  badges  of  Christianity,  by  which  it  is  distinguished  from  all  other 
professions.  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  1  Cor.  xii.  13.  P.  26.  [28.]  The  sacra- 
ment of  baptism  is  to  be  administered  by  Christ's  appointment,  and  the 
apostles'  example,  only  to  such  as  are,  externally,  and  so  far  as  men  can 
judge,  taught  and  made  disciples  [Matt,  xxviii.  19.]  ;  do  receive  the  word 
gladly ;  Acts  ii.  41  ;  believe  and  so  profess  ;  Acts  viii.  [12,  13,  37]  ;  have 
received  the  Holy  Ghost ;  Acts  x.  47 ;  and  to  their  seed;  Acts  ii.  39,  1 
Cor.  vii.  14.  P.  92.  [99.]  Baptism  administered  to  any  others  is  so  far 
from  investing  them  with  any  saintship  in  that  estate,  that  [as]  it  makes 
guilty,  both  the  giver  and  receiver,  of  sacrilege,  and  is  the  taking  of  God's 
name  in  vain.     P.  110.   [115.] 

Of  the  Lord's  Supper  he  says  : — 

The  apostle  teacheth,  1  Cor.  x.  16,  that  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  sup- 
per are  the  communion  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  that  is,  effectual 
pledges  of  our  conjunction  and  incorporation  with  Christ,  and  one  with 
another ;  and  in  ver.  17,  that  all  which  eat  of  one  bread  or  one  loaf,  are 
one  mystical  body.  This  place  alone,  if  Mr.  B.  and  his  fellow  ministers 
would  seriously  consider,  and  set  themselves  faithfully  to  observe,  they 
would  rather  offer  their  own  bodies  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  wild  beasts,  than 
the  holy  mysteries  of  Christ's  body  to  be  profaned  as  they  are.  P.  92. 
[98.] 

Of  the  keys,  Matt.  xvi.  18,  19,  he  says  : — 

It  is  granted  by  all  sides  that  Christ  gave  unto  Peter  the  keys  ot  the 
kingdom,  that  is,  the  powrer  to  remit  and  retain  sins  declaratively,  as  they 
speak  ;  as  also  that  in  what  respect  this  power  was  given  to  Peter,  in  the 
same  respect  it  wTas,  and  is,  given  to  such  as  succeed  Peter ;  but  the  ques- 
tion is,  in  what  respect  or  consideration  this  power  spoken  of  was  delegated 
to  him?  The  papist  affirms  it  was  given  to  Peter  as  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  and  so  to  the  bishops  of  Rome,  as  Peter's  successors,  and  thus 
they  stablish  the  pope's  primacy.  The  prelates  say  Nay,  out  unto  Peter 
an  apostle,  that  is,  a  chief  officer  of  the  church,  and  so  to  us,  as  chief  offi- 
cers succeeding  him.  Others  affirm  it  to  belong  to  Peter  here  as  a  minis- 
ter of  the  word  and  sacraments,  and  the  like,  and  so  consequently  to  all 
other  ministers  of  the  gospel  equally,  which  succeed  Peter  in  those  and  the 
like  administrations.  But  we,  for  our  parts  do  believe  and  profess  that  this 
promise  is  not  made  to  Peter  in  any  of  these  respects,  nor  to  any  office, 
order,  estate,  dignity  or  degree  in  the  church  or  world,  but  to  the  confession 


12  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

of  faith,  which  Peter  made  by  way  of  answer  to  Christ's  question,  [who, 
demanding  of  the  disciples  whom,  amongst  the  variety  of  opinions  that 
went  of  him,  they  thought  him  to  be,  was  answered  by  Peter  in  the  name 
of  the  rest]  "Thou  art  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  To  this 
Christ  replies,  "  Blessed  art  thou  ;  thou  art  Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  will 
I  build  my  church  ;  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys,"  &c.  So  that  the 
building  of  the  church  is  upon  the  rock  of  Peter's  confession,  that  is, 
Christ  whom  he  confessed.  This  faith  is  the  foundation  of  the  church;- 
against  this  faith  the  gates  of  hell  6hall  not  prevail ;  this  faith  hath  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  what  this  faith  shall  loose  or  bind  on 
earth,  is  bound  and  loosed  in  heaven.  Thus  the  Protestant  divines,  when 
they  deal  against  the  pope's  supremacy,  do  generally  expound  this  Scrip- 
ture ;  [though  Mr.  B.  directly  makes  the  pope  and  his  shavelings,  Peter's 
successors  in  this  place,  as  hereafter  will  appear.]  Now  it  followed),  that 
whatsoever  person  hath  received  the  same  precious  faith  with  Peter,  as  all 
the  faithful  have,  2  Pet.  i.  1,  that  person'hath  a  part  in  this  gift  of  Christ. 
Whosoever  doth  confess,  publish,  manifest  or  make  known  Jesus  to  be  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  and  Saviour  of  the  world,  that  person 
opens  heaven's  gates,  looseth  sin,  and  partakes  with  Peter  in  the  use  of  the 
keys  ;  and  hereupon  it  followeth  necessarily,  that  one  faithful  man,  yea,  or 
woman  either,  may  as  truly  and  effectually  loose  and  bind,  both  in  heaven 
and  earth,  as  all  the  ministers  in  the  world.     Pp.  149,  159.     [157,  158.] 

But  here  I  know  the  lordly  clergy,  like  the  bulls  of  Bashan,  will  roar 
loud  upon  me,  as  speaking  things  intolerably  derogatory  to  the  diguity  of 
priesthood  ;  and  it  may  be  some  others  also,  either  through  ignorance  or 
superstition,  will  take  offence  at  this  speech,  as  confounding  all  things  ;  but 
there  is  no  such  cause  of  exception.  For  howsoever  the  keys  be  one  and 
the  same  in  nature  and  efficacy,  in  what  faithful  man,  or  men's  hands 
soever,  as  not  depending  either  upon  the  number  or  excellency  of  any  per- 
sons, but  upon  Christ  alone  ;  yet  is  it  ever  to  be  remembered,  that  the  order 
and  manner  of  using  them  is  very  different. 

The  [These]  keys  in  doctrine  may  be  turned  as  well  upon  them  which  are 
without  the  church,  as  upon  them  which  are  within,  and  their  sins  either 
loosed  or  bound,  Matt,  xxviii.  19  ;  but  in  discipline  not  so,  but  only  upon 
them  which  are  within  ;  1  Cor.  v.  12,  13.  Again,  the  apostles  by  their 
office  had  these  keys  to  use  in  all  churches,  yea,  in  all  nations  upon  earth  ; 
ordinary  elders  for  their  particular  flocks ;  Acts  xiv.  23,  aud  xx.  28. 
Lastly,  there  is  a  use  of  the  keys  publicly  to  be  had,  and  a  use  privately  ; 
a  use  of  them  by  one  person  severally,  and  a  use  of  them  by  the  whole 
church  jointly,  aud  together;  a  use  of  them  ministerially,  or  in  office,  and 
a  use  of  them  out  of  office.  But  the  power  of  the  gospel,  which  is  the 
keys,  is  still  one  and  the  same,  notwithstanding  the  diverse  manner  of  using 
it.     P.  151.     [158,  159.] 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  ROBINSON.  13 

If  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be  appropriated  unto  the  officers, 
then  can  there  be  no  forgiveness  of  sins,  nor  salvation,  without  officers  ; 
for  there  is  no  entrance  into  heaven  but  by  the  door.  Without  the  key  the 
door  cannot  be  opened.  So  then,  belike,  if  either  there  be  no  officers  in 
the  church  (as  it  may  easily  come  to  pass  in  some  extreme  plague  or  per- 
secution, [howsoever  in  England  a  man  may  have  a  priest  for  the  whis- 
tling,] and  must  needs  be  in  the  churches  of  Christ  in  our  days,  either  in 
their  first  planting,  or  first  calling  out  of  Babylon  \  for  antichrist's  mass- 
priesthood  is  not  essentially  Christ's  true  ministry,)  or  if  the  officers  take 
away  the  key  of  knowledge,  as  the  scribes  and  pharisees  did,  and  will 
neither  enter  themselves  nor  suffer  them  that  would  ;  then  must  the  misera- 
ble multitude  be  content  to  be  shut  out  and  perish  eternally,  for  ought  is 
known  to  the  contrary.  To  admonish  the  officers  of  their  sin,  [it]  were 
kl  against  common  sense,  as  that  the  father  should  be  subject  to  his  children, 
the  work  domineer  over  the  workman,  the  seedsman  be  ordered  by  the 
corn,"  and  to  excommunicate  them  and  call  new,  were  intolerable  usurpa- 
tion of  the  keys  ;  "  this  power  is  given  to  the  chief  officers  only ;"  Pp.  94, 
95,  and  to  separate  from  them  is  as  intolerable.  P.  88.1  Miserable  were 
the  Lord's  people,  if  these  things  were  so  ;  but  the  truth  is,  they  are  mis- 
erable guides  who  so  teach. 

They  which  may  forgive  sins  and  sinners,  save  souls,  gain  and  turn  men 
unto  the  Lord,  to  them  are  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  given,  by  which  they 
open  the  door  unto  such  as  they  thus  forgive,  gain  and  save.  But  all  these 
things,  such  as  are  not  ministers  may  do,  as  these  Scriptures,  which  I  en- 
treat the  godly  reader  to  consider,  do  most  clearly  manifest ;  Matt,  xviii. 
15  ;  2  Cor.  ii.  5,  7  ; — 10  ;  Acts  viii.  1,  4,  with  xi.  19—21  ;  James  v.  19,  20  ; 
1  Pet.  iii.  1  ;  Jude  22,  23.  Erroneous,  therefore,  and  derogatory  is  it  to 
the  nature  of  the  gospel,  and  free  donation  of  Christ,  thus  to  impropriate 
and  engross  the  keys,  which  lie  common  to  all  Christians  in  their  place  and 
order.     Pp.  152,  153.     [160,  161.] 

Concerning  ordination  Mr.  Eobinson  observes  : — 

The  officers  of  the  church  are  the  servants  of  the  church  ;  and  their 
office  a  service  of  the  Lord,  and  of  his  church.  Matt.  xx.  25,  26,  27.  2 
Cor.  iv.  5.  Rom.  xv.  31.  Whereupon  it  followeth  necessarily,  that  what 
power  the  offiers  have,  the  body  of  the  church  hath  first.  P.  411.  [435.] 
To  these  things  I  add,  that  what  power  any  of  the  pope's  clergy  receive 
from  him,  the  same  he  takes  from  them,  and  deprives  them  of,  when  they 
withdraw  their  obedience,  or  separate  from  that  church.  For  our  better 
proceeding,  I  will  first  consider  what  ordination  is  ;  and  secondly  how  far 

lrThese  are  quotations  from  Bernard, 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  brethren  may  go  by  the  Scriptures,  and  the  necessary  consequences 
drawn  from  them,  in  this  and  the  like  cases  in  the  first  planting  of  churches, 
or  of  reducing  of  them  into  order,  in  or  after  some  general  confusion. 
The  prelates,  and  those  which  level  by  their  line,  highly  advance  ordina- 
tion [and]  far  above  the  administration  of  the  wrord,  sacraments  and 
prayer  ;  making  it,  and  the  power  of  excommunication,  the  two  incommu- 
nicable prerogatives  of  a  bishop  above  an  ordinary  minister.  But  surely 
herein  these  chief  ministers  do  not  succeed  the  chief  ministers,  the  apos- 
tles, except  as  darkness  succeeds  light,  and  antichrist's  confusion  Christ's 
order.  When  the  apostles  were  sent  out  by  Christ,  there  was  no  mention 
of  ordination  ;  their  charge  was,  "  Go  teach  all  nations,  and  baptize  them  ;  " 
and,  that  the  apostles  accounted  preaching  their  principal  work,  and  after  it 
baptism  and  prayer,  the  Scriptures  manifest.  Acts  vi.  4 ;  1  Cor.  i.  17. 
P.  412.     [436,  437.] 

Ordination  doth  depend  upon  the  people's  lawful  election,  as  an  effect 
upon  the  cause,  by  virtue  of  which  it  is  justly  administered,  and  may  be 
thus  described,  or  considered  of  us,  as  the  admission  of  or  putting  into  pos- 
session a  person  lawfully  elected  into  a  true  office  of  ministry The 

right  unto  their  office  they  have  by  election,  the  possession  by  ordination, 
with  the  ceremony  of  imposition  of  hands.  The  apostle  Peter,  advertis- 
ing the  disciples  or  brethren  that  one  (fitted  as  there  noted)  was  in  the 
room  of  Judas  to  be  made  a  witness,  with  the  eleven  apostles,  of  the  res- 
urrection of  Christ,  when  two  were  by  them  presented,  did  with  the  rest 
present  them  two  and  none  other  to  the  Lord,  that  he,  by  the  immediate 
direction  of  the  lot,  might  show  whether  of  them  two  he  had  chosen.  Acts 
i.  In  like  manner  the  twelve  being  to  institute  the  office  of  deaconry  in 
the  church  at  Jerusalem,  called  the  multitude  of  the  disciples  together,  and 
informed  them  what  manner  of  persons  they  were  to  choose  ;  which  choice 
being  made  by  the  brethren  accordingly,  and  they  so  chosen  presented  to 
the  apostles,  they  forthwith  ordained  them,  by  virtue  of  the  election  [so] 
made  by  the  brethren.  To  these  add,  that  the  apostles  Paul  and  Barnabas 
(being  thereunto  called  by  the  Holy  Ghost)  did  pass  from  church  to  church, 
and  from  place  to  place,  and  in  every  church  where  they  came  did  ordain 
them  elders  by  the  people's  election,  signified  by  their  lifting  up  of  hands, 
as  the  word1  is,  and  as  the  use  was  in  popular  elections,  throughout  those 

countries.    Act.  xiii.  2,  and  xiv.  23 The  judgment  and  plea  (when 

they  deal  with  us)  of  the  most  forward  men  in   the  land,  in  this  case,  I 

1  XzcpozovrjOaVTEZ.  Mr.  Robinson's  argument  from  this  word  is  not  approved 
by  the  best  criticism.  "  Tbe  interpretation  having  appointed  for  them  [elders]  by 
their  outstretched  hands,  i.  e.,  by  taking  their  opinion  or  vote  in  that  manner,  is  un- 
warranted ;  for  it  transfers  the  hands  to  the  wrong  persons." — Hackett;  Commentary 
on  Acts  xiv  :  23. — Ed. 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  ROBINSON.  15 

may  omit ;  which  is,  that  they  renounce  and  disclaim  their  ordination  by 
the  prelates,  and  hold  their  ministry  by  the  people's  acceptation.  Now  if 
the  acceptation  of  a  mixed  company,  under  the  prelate's  government  (as  is 
the  best  parish  assembly  in  the  kingdom)  whereof  the  greatest  part  have  by 
the  revealed  will  of  God  no  right  to  the  covenant,  ministry,  or  other  holy 
things,  be  sufficient  to  make  a  minister,  then  much  more  the  acceptation  of 
the  people  with  us,  being  all  of  them  jointly,  and  every  one  of  them  sev- 
erally, by  the  mercy  of  God,  capable  of  the  Lord's  ordinances.1  I  ac- 
knowledge that  where  there  are  already  lawful  officers  in  a  church,  by  and 
to  which  others  are  called,  there  the  former,  upon  that  election,  are  to 
ordain  and  appoint  the  latter.  The  officers,  being  the  ministers  of  the 
church,  are  to  execute  the  determinations  [and  judgments]  of  the  church 

under  the  Lord Ordination  is  properly  the  execution  of  election.    Pp. 

413—415.   [437—440.] 

The  apostle  Paul  writes  to  the  churches  of  Galatia  to  reject,  as  accursed, 
such  ministers  whomsoever  as  should  preach  otherwise  than  they  had 
already  received :  and  the  same  apostle  writes  to  the  church  of  [at]  Co- 
losse,  to  admonish  Archippus  to  take  heed  to  his  ministry.  So  [did]  John 
also,  to  the  church  of  Ephesus,  commendeth,  [commending]  it  for  exam- 
ining,  and  so  consequently  for  silencing,   such  as  pretended   themselves 

'Mr.  Robinson  gives  us  a  number  of  the  Protestants'  testimonies  upon  this  point, 
of  which  take  the  following : — 

11  Gal.  i.  8 ;  'If  any  man  teach  another  gospel,  let  him  be  anathema.'  Only  the 
assembly  where  the  true  doctrine  soundeth  is  the  church  :  in  it  is  the  ministry  of  the 
gospel :  in  it  are  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Wherefore  in  that  very  assem- 
bly [in  eo  ipso  Gcetit]  there  is  the  right  of  calling  and  ordaining  the  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  because  we  must  fly  the  enemies  of  the  gospel,  as  anathema.  And  besides, 
if  we  should  desire  of  them  the  ceremony  of  ordination,  they  would  not  give  it,  ex- 
cept we  would  bind  ourselves  to  renounce  the  true  doctrine  ;  and  other  wicked  bonds 
would  they  cast  upon  us.  It  is  the  confusion  of  order,  to  seek  shepherds  from  the 
wolves.  This  hath  ever  been  the  right  of  the  true  church,  to  choose  and  call  out  of 
her  own  assembly  fit  ministers  of  the  gospel." 

Philip  Melancthon. 

"  In  the  planting  of  churches  anew,  when  men  [want]  are  wanting,  which  should 
preach  the  gospel,  a  woman  may  perform  that  at  the  first;  but  so  as  when  she  hath 
taught  any  company,  that  some  one  man  of  the  faithful  be  ordained,  which  may 
afterwards  minister  the  sacraments,  teach,  and  do  the  pastor's  duty  faithfully." 

Peter  Martyr. 

"  Tilenus  being  demanded  of  the  Earl  of  Lavall,  from  whom  Calvin  had  his  call- 
ing answered,  From  the  church  of  Geneva,  and  from  Farrel,  his  predecessor;  who 
also  had  his  from  the  people  of  Geneva;  who  had  right  and  authority  to  institute 
and  depose  ministers  :  which  thing  he  also  confirms  by  Cyprian,  Epist.  xiv."  Pp. 
421,  422.   [446,  447,] 

These  were  the  sentiments  of  those  who  knew  how  they  came  out  of  Rome,  and 
upon  what  grounds  the  Protestant  churches  were  formed ;  but  how  differently  are 
things  represented  by  aspiring  men  at  this  day? 


16  HISTORY   OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

apostles,  and  were  not :  as  also  to  the  church  of  Thyatira,  reproving  it  for 
suffering  unsilenced  the  false  prophetess  Jezebel.  Now  as  these  things  did 
first  and  principally  concern  the  officers,  who  were  in  these  and  all  other 
things  of  the  same  nature  to  go  before  and  govern  the  people  ;  so  are 
[were]  the  people  also  in  their  places  interested  in  the  same  business  and 
charge.  Neither  could  the  officers'  sin  (if  they  should  have  been  corrupt 
or  negligent)  discharge  the  people  of  their  duty  in  the  things  which  con- 
cerned them  ;  but  they  were  bound  notwithstanding  to  see  the  command- 
ments of  the  apostles,  and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  by  them,  executed  accord- 
ingly. And  if  the  people  be  in  cases,  and  when  their  officers  fail,  thus  sol- 
emnly to  examiue,  admonish,  silence,  and  suppress  their  teachers,  being 
faulty  and  unsound ;  then  are  they  also  by  proportion,  where  officers  fail, 
to  elect,  appoint,  set  up  and  over  themselves  such  fit  persons  as  the  Lord 
affordeth  them,  for  their  furtherance  of  faith  and  salvation.  Pp.  417,  418. 
[442,  443.] 

Against  this  doctrine  many  objections  have  been  raised; 
the  chief  of  which  are  about  the  people's  instability,  and 
their  tendency  to  confusion.  In  answer  to  which,  Mr.  Rob- 
inson reminds  his  opponent,  that  though  his  ignorant  peo- 
ple had  readily  changed  their  religion  with  their  prince, 
even  back  to  popery  in  Mary's  days ;  yet,  "  The  prelates 
and  priests  were  as  unstable  as  the  rest,  yea  their  ringlead- 
ers."    Says  he : — 

For  [ourselves,  Mr.  B.,  and  that  whereof  we  take]  experience  in  this 
our  popularity,  as  you  term  it,  I  tell  you,  that  if  ever  I  saw  the  beauty  of 
Sion,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filling  his  tabernacle,  it  hath  been  in  the 
manifestation  of  the  divers  graces  of  God  in  the  church,  in  that  heavenly 
harmony,  and  comely  order,  wherein  by  the  grace  of  God  we  are  set  and 
walk  ;  wherein,  if  your  eyes  had  but  seen  the  brethren's  sober  aud  modest 
carriage  one  towards  another,  their  humble  and  willing  submission  unto 
their  guides  in  the  Lord,  their  tender  compassion  towards  the  weak,  their 
fervent  zeal  against  scandalous  offenders,  and  their  long-suffering  towards 
all,  you  would,  I  am  persuaded,  change  your  mind,  and  be  compelled  to 
take  up  your  parable,  and  bless  where  you  purposed  to  curse.  P.  212. 
[223.]  For  mine  own  part,  knowing  mine  own  infirmities,  and  that  I  am 
subject  to  sin,  yea  and  to  forwardness  in  sin,  as  much  as  the  brethren  are  ; 
if  by  mine  office  I  should  be  deprived  of  the  remedy  which  they  enjoy, 
that  blessed  ordinance  of  the  church's  censures,  I  should  think  mine  office 
accursed,  and  myself  by  it,  as  frustrating  and  disappointing  me  of  that 
main  end  for  which  the  servants  of  Christ  ought  to  join  themselves  unto 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  ROBINSON.  17 

the  church  of  Christ,  furnished  with  his  power  for  their  reformation 

As,  on  the  contrary,  God  is  my  record,  how,  in  the  very  writing  of  these 
things,  my  soul  is  filled  with  spiritual  joy,  that  I  am  under  this  easy  yoke 
of  Christ,  the  censures  of  the  church,  and  how  much  I  am  comforted  in 
this  [very]  consideration,  against  my  vile  and  corrupt  nature,  which,  not- 
withstanding, I  am  persuaded  the  Lord  will  never  so  far  suffer  to  rebel,  as 
that  it  shall  not  be  tamed  and  subdued  by  this  strong  hand  of  God,  with- 
out which  it  might  every  day  and  hour  so  hazard  my  salvation.  That  doc- 
trine which  advanceth  an  inferior  and  meaner  state  [estate]  in  the  church, 
above  that  which  is  superior  and  the  chief,  that  is  unsound,  and  indeed 
serving  in  a  degree  for  the  exaltation  of  that  man  of  sin  above  all  that  is 
called  God.  But  the  doctrine  of  setting  the  elders  without  and  above  the 
judgments  and  censures  of  the  church,  doth  advance  an  inferior  above  a 
superior.     The  point  I  thus  manifest : — 

The  order  of  kings  is  the  highest  order  or  estate  in  the  church.     But  the 
order  of  saints  is  the  order  of  kings,  and  we  are  kings  as  we  are  saints,  not 

as  we  are  officers As  the  Lord  Jesus  did  prove  against  the  scribes 

and  pharisees,  that  the  temple  was  greater  than  the  gold,  because  it  sancti- 
fied the  gold,  and  that  the  altar  was  greater  than  the  offering,  because  it 
sanctified  the  offering,  so  by  proportion  the  condition  of  a  saint,  which  sanc- 
tifieth  the  condition  of  an  officer,  is  more  excellent  [and  greater]  than  it  is. 
To  our  saintship,  and  as  we  have  faith,  is  promised  the  forgiveness  of  sins, 
the  favor  of  God,  and  life  eternal,  but  not  to  our  office,  or  in  respect  of  it. 
The  estate  of  a  saint  is  most  happy  and  blessed,  though  the  person  never 
so  much  as  come  near  an  office  ;  but  on  the  contrary,  an  officer,  if  he  be 
not  also  and  first  a  saint,  is  a  most  wretched  and  accursed  creature.  Pp. 
216,  217.     [227,  228.] 

The  reader  will  not  wTonder  that  those  who  were  for  na- 
tional churches,  and  unconverted  ministers,  discovered  a 
strong  prejudice  against  such  writings  as  these ;  but  how 
well  do  they  agree  with  the  apostles'  doctrine.  1  Cor.  xii. 
31,  and  xiii.  1 — 3  ;  Gal.  i. 

Of  reformation,  Mr.  Robinson  says  to  his  opponent : — 

You  speak  much  of  the  reformation  of  your  church  after  popery.  There 
was  indeed  a  great  reformation  of  things  in  your  church,  but  very  little  of 
the  church,  to  speak  truly  and  properly.  The  people  are  the  church  ;  and 
to  make  a  reformed  church,  there  must  be  first  a  reformed  people ;  and  so 
there  should  have  been  with  you,  by  the  preaching  of  repentance  from  dead 
works,  and  faith  in  Christ ;  that  the  people,  as  the  Lord  should  have  vouch- 
safed grace,  being  first  fitted  for,  and  made  capable  of,  the  sacraments,  and 
2 


18  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

other  ordinances,  might  afterwards  have  communicated  in  the  pure  use  of 
them  ;  for  want  of  which,  instead  of  a  pure  use,  there  hath  been,  and  is  at 
this  day,  a  most  profane  abuse  of  them,  to  the  great  dishonor  of  Christ  and 
his  gospel,  and  to  the  hardening  of  thousands  in  their  impeniteucy.  Others 
also,  endeavoring  yet  a  further  reformation,  have  sued  and  do  sue  to  kings, 
and  queens,  and  parliaments,  for  the  rooting  out  of  the  prelacy,  and  with 
it,  of  such  other  evil  fruits  as  grow  from  that  bitter  root ;  and  on  the  con- 
trary, to  have  the  ministry,  government  and  discipline  of  Christ  set  over 
the  parishes  as  they  stand  ;  the  first  fruit  of  which  reformation,  if  it  were 
obtained,  would  be  the  [further]  profanation  of  the  more  of  God's  ordi- 
nances upon  such,  as  to  whom  they  appertained  not ;  and  so  the  further 
provocation  of  his  [great]  Majesty  unto  anger  against  all  such  as  so  prac- 
ticed, or  consented  thereunto.  Is  it  not  strange  that  men,  in  the  reforming 
of  a  church,  should  almost,  or  altogether,  forget  the  church,  which  is  the 
people,  or  that  they  should  labor  to  crown  Christ  a  King  over  a  people, 
whose  Prophet  he  hath  not  first  been  ?  or  to  set  him  to  rule  by  his  laws  and 
officers,  over  the  professed  subjects  of  antichrist  and  the  devil?  [or]  is  it 
possible  that  ever  they  should  submit  to  the  discipline  of  Christ,  which 
have  not  first  been  prepared,  in  some  measure,  by  his  holy  doctrine,  and 
taught  with  meekness  to  stoop  unto  his  yoke?     Pp.  300,  301.     [31 G,  317.] 

A  main  plea  for  such  confusion,  both  then  and  now,  was 
and  is  drawn  from  the  parable  of  the  tares.  But,  says  Mr. 
Robinson: — 

Since  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  best  knew  his  own  meaning,  calls  the  field 
the  world,  and  makes  the  harvest,  which  is  the  end  of  the  field,  the  end  of 
the  world,  and  not  of  the  church,  why  should  we  admit  of  any  other  in- 
terpretation ?  Neither  is  it  like  [likely]  that  Christ  would  in  the  expound- 
ing of  one  parable  speak  another,  as  he  should  have  done,  if,  in  calling  the 
field  the  world,  he  had  meant  the  church.  As  God  then  in  the  beginning 
made  man  good,  and  placed  him  in  the  field  of  the  world,  there  to  grow, 
where  by  the  envy  of  the  serpent  he  was  soon  corrupted,  so  ever  since  hath 
the  seed  of  the  serpent,  stirred  up  by  their  father  the  devil,  snarled  at  the 
heel  of  the  woman's  seed,  and  like  noisome  tares  vexed  and  pestered  the 
good  and  holy  seed  ;  which  though  the  children  of  God  both  see  and  feel 
to  their  pain,  yet  must  they  not  therefore,  forgetting  what  spirit  they  are  of, 
presently  call  for  fire  from  heaven,  nor  prevent  the  Lord's  hand,  but  wait 
his  leisure,  either  for  the  converting  of  these  tares  into  wheat,  which  in 
many  is  daily  seen, — and  then  how  great  pity  had  it  been  they  should  so 
untimely  have  been  plucked  up — or  for  their  final  perdition  in  the  day  of 
the  Lord,  when  the  church  shall  be  no  more  offended  by  them.  And  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  no  way  speaks  of  the  toleration  of  profane  persons  in  the 
church,  doth  appear  by  these  reasons  : — 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF  JOHN  ROBINSON.  19 

1.  Because  he  doth  not  contradict  himself,  by  forbidding  the  use  of  the 
keys  in  one  place,  which  in  another  he  hath  turned  upon  impenitent  offend- 
ers. Matt,  xviii.  [15 — 17.]  2.  In  the  excommunication  of  sinners  appar- 
ently obstinate,  with  due  circumspection,  and  in  the  spirit  of  wisdom, 
meekness,  and  long-suffering,  with  such  other  general  Christian  virtues,  as 
with  which  all  our  special  sacrifices  ought  to  be  seasoned,  what  danger  can 
there  be  of  any  such  disorder,  as  the  plucking  up  of  the  wheat  with  the 
tares,  which  the  husbandman  feareth?  3.  The  Lord  Jesus  speaks  of  the 
utter  ruinating  and  destruction  of  the  tares, — the  plucking  them  up  by  the 
roots  ; — but  excommunication  rightly  administered,  is  not  for  the  ruin  and 
destruction  of  any,  but  for  the  salvation  of  the  party  thereby  humbled.  1 
Cor.  v.  5.  The  Lord's  field  is  sown  only  with  good  seed, — his  church, 
saints  [and]  beloved  of  God,  all  aDd  every  one  of  them,  though  by  the 
malice  of  Satan,  and  negligence  of  such  as  should  keep  this  field,  vineyard 
and  house  of  God,  adulterated  seed,  and  abominable  persons,  may  be  foisted 
in,  yea  and  suffered  also.  Pp.  119,  120.  [125—127.]  I  deny  not  but, 
as  it  hath  been  said  of  old,  there  are  many  sheep  without,  and  many  wolves 
within  ;  many  of  the  visible  church  which  are  not  of  the  invisible  church, 
and  many  of  the  invisible  church  which  never  come  into  the  visible  church. 
But  this,  say  I,  is  not  according  to  the  revealed  will  of  God  in  his  word ; 
but  by  meu's  default  and  sin.  It  is  their  sin  of  ignorance,  or  infirmity, 
which,  being  of  the  invisible  church,  do  not,  if  possibly  they  can,  join 
themselves  unto  the  visible  church,  there  to  partake  in  the  visible  ordinan- 
ces. It  is  their  sin  of  hypocrisy  and  presumption,  which  not  being  of  the 
invisible  church,  do  adjoin  themselves  to  the  visible  church,  there  to  pro- 
fane the  Lord's  covenant  and  ordinances,  to  which  they  have  no  right. 
For  how  can  they,  being  wicked  and  unholy,  challenge  the  Lord  to  be  their 
God,  that  is,  all  happiness  and  goodness  unto  them,  which  is  one  part  of 
the  covenant ;  or  profess  themselves  to  be  his  people,  which  is  another  part, 
when  the  devil  and  their  lusts  is  their  God?     Pp.  313,  314.     [330.] 

Of  the  difference  between  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Government.  . 

1.  Civil  officers  [are,  and]  are  called  in  the  word  of  God,  princes,  heads, 
captains,  judges,  magistrates,  nobles,  lords,  kings,  them  in  authority,  prin- 
cipalities and  powcs,  yea  in  their  respect,  gods  ;  and  according  to  their 
names  so  are  their  offices.  But  on  the  contrary,  ecclesiastical  officers  are 
not  capable  of  these,  or  the  like  titles,  which  can  neither  be  given  without 
flattery  unto  them,  nor  received  by  them  without  arrogancy.  Neither  is 
their  office  an  office  of  lordship,  sovereignty  or  authority,  but  of  labor  and 
service,  and  so  they,  the  laborers  and  servants  of  the  church,  as  of  God. 
2  Cor.  iv.  5;   1  Tim.  iii.  1. 

2.  Magistrates  may  publish  and  execute  their  own   laws  in  their  own 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

names.  Ezra  i.  1,  &c. ;  Esther  viii.  8  ;  Matt.  xx.  25.  But  ministers  are 
only  interpreters  of  the  laws  of  God,  and  must  look  for  no  further  respect 
at  the  hands  of  any  to  the  things  they  speak,  than  as  they  manifest  the 
same  to  be  the  commandments  of  the  Lord.     1  Cor.  xiv.  37. 

3.  Civil  administrations,  and  their  forms  of  government,  may  be  and 
ofttimes  are  altered,  for  the  avoiding  of  inconveniences,  according  to  the 
circumstances  of  time,  place  and  persons.  Exod.  xviii.  13,  &c.  But  the 
church  is  a  kingdom  which  cannot  be  shaken,  Heb.  xii.  28,  wherein  may 
be  no  innovation  in  office,  or  form  of  administration,  from  that  which 
Christ  hath  left,  for  any  inconveniency  whatsoever. 

4.  Civil  magistrates  have  authority  by  their  offices  to  judge  offenders, 
upon  whom  also  they  may  execute  bodily  vengeance,  using  their  people  as 
their  servants  and  ministers  for  the  same  purpose  ;  but  in  the  church  the 
officers  are  the  ministers  of  the  people,  whose  service  the  people  is  to  use 
for  the  administering  of  the  judgments  of  the  church,  and  of  God  first, 
against  the  obstinate,  which  is  the  utmost  execution  the  church  can  perform. 
....  But  here  it  will  be  demanded  of  me,  if  the  elders  be  not  set  over  the 
church  for  her  guidance  and  government?  Yes,  certainly,  as  the  physician 
is  set  over  the  body,  for  his  skill  and  faithfulness,  to  minister  unto  it,  to 
whom  the  patient,  yea  though  his  lord  and  [or]  master,  is  to  submit  ;  the 
lawyer  over  his  cause,  to  attend  unto  it ;  the  steward  over  his  family,  even 
his  wife  and  children,  to  make  provision  for  them  :  yea,  the  watchman  over 
the  whole  city,  for  the  safe  keeping  thereof.  Such,  and  none  other,  is  the 
elder's  or  bishop's  government.     Pp.  135 — 137.     [143 — 145.] 

But,  says  Mr.  Robinson  : — 

What  sway  authority  hath  in  the  church  of  England,  appeareth  in  the 
laws  of  the  land,  which  make  the  government  of  the  church  alterable  at 
the  magistrate's  pleasure  ;  and  so  the  clergy,  in  their  submission  to  King 
Henry  VIII,  do  derive,  as  they  pretend,  their  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction 
from  him,  and  so  execute  [exercise]  it.  Indeed  many  of  the  late  bishops 
and  their  proctors,  seeing  how  monstrous  the  ministration  is  of  divine 
things,  by  a  human  authority  and  calling,  and  growing  bold  upon  the 
present  disposition  of  the  magistrate,  have  disclaimed  that  former  title,  and 
do  professedly  hold  their  ecclesiastical  power  and  jurisdiction  de  jure  di- 
vino,  and  so  consequently  by  God's  word  unalterable  :  of  whom  I  would 
demand  this  one  question  : — What  if  the  king  should  discharge  and  expel 
the  present  ecclesiastical  government,  and  plant  instead  of  it  the  presbytery 
or  eldership,  would  they  submit  unto  the  government  of  the  elders?  Yea 
or  No?  If  Yea,  then  were  they  traitors  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  submitting  to 
a  government  overthrowing  his  government,  as  doth  the  Presbyterian  gov- 
ernment that  which  is  Episcopal :  if  No,  then  how  could  they  free  them- 


[1610.]  VIEWS  OF   JOHN  ROBINSON.  21 

selves  from  such  imputations  of  disloyalty  to  princes,  and  disturbance  of 
states,  as  wherewith  they  load  us  and  others  opposing  them?  But  to  the 
question  itself.  As  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  of  this  world,  but  spirit- 
ual, and  he  a  spiritual  King,  John  xviii.  36,  so  must  the  government  of 
this  spiritual  kingdom  under  this  spiritual  King  needs  be  spiritual,  aud  all 
the  laws  of  it.  And  as  Christ  Jesus  hath,  by  the  merits  of  his  priesthood, 
redeemed  as  well  the  body  as  the  soul,  1  Cor.  vi.  20,  so  is  he  also  by  the 
sceptre  of  his  kingdom  to  rule  and  reign  over  both,  unto  which  Christian 
magistrates,  as  well  as  meaner  persons,  ought  to  submit  themselves,  and 
the  more  Christian  they  are,  the  more  meekly  to  take  the  yoke  of  Christ 
upon  them,  and  the  greater  authority  they  have,  the  more  effectually 
to  advance  his  sceptre  over  themselves  and  their  people,  by  all  good  means. 
Neither  can  there  be  any  reason  given  why  the  merits  of  saints  may  not 
as  well  be  mingled  wTith  the  merits  of  Christ,  for  the  saving  of  the  church, 
as  the  laws  of  men  with  his  laws,  for  the  ruling  and  guiding  of  it.  He  is 
as  absolute  and  [as]  entire  a  King  as  he  is  a  Priest,  and  his  people  must 
be  as  careful  to  preserve  the  diguity  of  the  one,  as  to  enjoy  the  benefit  of 
the  other.  •  P.  38.     [39,  40.] 

Of  Ministers'  Maintenance. 

Mr.  Bernard  charged  his  opponents  with  error,  in  holding 
that  ministers  ought  not  to  live  of  tithes,  bat  of  the  people's 
voluntary  contribution ;  and  says,  "This  is  against  the  wis- 
dom of  God,  who  allowed  a  settled  maintenance  under  the 
law ;  and  there  is  nothing  against  it  in  the  gospel."  But  in 
reply  Mr.  Robinson  says  : — 

As  the  Lord  appointed  under  the  law  a  settled  maintenance  by  tithes  and 
offerings,  so  did  he  a  settled  land  of  Canaan,  which  was  holy,  aud  a  sacra- 
ment ;  so  did  he  also  appoint  that  the  Levites  to  be  maintained  there,  should 
have  no  part  nor  inheritance  with  the  rest  of  the  Israelites  their  brethren. 
And  hath  God's  wisdom  so  appointed  now  ?  If  it  had,  I  fear  many  would 
not  rest  in  it,  so  wise  are  they  for  their  bellies.  And  where  you  add  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  gospel  agaiust  this  ordinance  in  the  law,  the  author 
to  the  Hebrews  might  have  taught  you,  that  the  law  is  abolished  by  the 
gospel,  in  the  sense  we  speak  of;  and  the  Old  Testament  by  the  New,  in 
respect  of  ordinances,  whereof  this  was  one.  If  it  be  said  that  tithes 
were  in  use  aud  given  by  Abraham  to  Melchizedec,  priest  of  the  most  high 
God,  before  the  law  or.  Old  Testament  was  given  by  Moses,  I  answer,  that 
so  was  circumcision  ministered  and  sacrifices  offered  before  Moses  ;  which 
notwithstanding  were  parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  assumed  by  Moses 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

into  the  body  of  it,  and  so  are  abolished  by  the  New.  To  conclude  this 
point,  since  tithes  and  offerings  were  appurtenances  unto  the  priesthood, 
and  that  the  priesthood,  both  of  Melchizedec  and  Levi,  are  abolished  in 
Christ,  as  the  shadow  in  the  substance  ;  and  that  the  "Lord  hath  ordained 
that  they  which  preach  the  gospel,  should  live  of  the  gospel  ;"  we  willingly 
leave  unto  you  both  your  priestly  order  and  maintenance,  contenting  our- 
selves with  the  people's  voluntary  contribution,  whether  it  be  less  or  more, 
as  the  blessing  of  God  upon  our  labor,  the  fruit  of  our  ministry,  and  a 
declaration  of  their  love  and  duty.     Pp.  439,  440.     [4GG,  4G7.] 

In  all  these  passages1  I  have  recited  Mr.  Robinson's  own 
expressions,  without  knowingly  adding  a  single  word.  The 
spelling  I  have  brought  to  the  present  times,  but  the  lan- 
guage is  entirely  his  ;  and  it  may  be  questioned  whether  any 
talked  a  purer  one  in  that  day  or  not,  if  there  does  in  this. 

About  the  time  of  his  publishing  this  book,  and  for  some 
years  following,  "many  came  to  his  church  at  Leyden  from 
divers  parts  of  England,  so  that  they  grew  a  great  congre- 
gation ;"  h*  even  so  as  to  have  three  hundred  communicants2." 
And  as  the  Arminian  controversy  caused  great  troubles  in 
Holland,  and  especially  at  Leyden,  their  two  divinity  pro- 
fessors being  divided,  Episcopius  appearing  for,  and  Poly- 
ander3  against  the  Arminian  tenets ;  Mr.  Robinson,  though 
he  preached  thrice  a  week,  and  went  through  much  other 
labor,  yet  went  constantly  to  hear  them  both,  whereby  he 
got  well  grounded  in  the  controversy  ;  so  that  when  Episco- 
pius, about  the  year  1613,  set  forth  sundry  Arminian  theses 
at  Leyden,  which  he  would  defend  against  all  opposers,  Po- 
lyander  insisted  upon  Mr.  Robinson's  engaging  against  him, 
telling  him,  that  ';  such  was  the  ability  and  expertness  of  the 
adversary,  that  the  truth  is  in  danger  to  suffer,  if  he  would 
not  help  them  ;  is  so  importunate  as  at  length  he  yields  ;  and 
when  the  day  comes,  he  so  defends  the  truth,  and  foils  the 

'Changed  from  "  In  all  these  passages  whieh  begin  and  end  with  marks  of  quota- 
tion."— Ed. 
■Prince'i  Chronology,  [125]  j  Plymouth  Register. 

3In  the  original  edition  this  name  stands  as  Polydore.     Mr.  Baekus  eorreeted  the 
error  in  his  Abridgment. — Ed. 


[1613.]  SETTLEMENT  AT  SAGADAHOC.  23 

opposer,  as  he  puts  him  to  an  apparent  nonplus  in  this  great 
and  public  audience.  The  same  he  does  a  second  and  a  third 
time,  upon  the  like  occasions,  which,  as  it  causes  many  to 
give  praise  to  God  that  the  truth  had  so  famous  a  victory, 
so  it  procures  Mr.  Robinson  much  respect  and  honor  from 
those  learned  men  and  others1." 

Several  attempts  were  made  to  plant  New  England  from 
worldly  motives,  but  they  all  proved  abortive.  In  1607  a 
hundred  men  were  sent  over  to  Sagadahoc2  with  furniture  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  a  great  state,  and  all  lived  through 
the  winter  but  their  president ;  yet  the  next  year,  "  the  whole 
colony  breaks  up  and  returns  to  England,  and  brands  the 
country  as  over  cold  and  not  habitable  by  our  nation,  and 
the  adventurers  give  over  their  design3."  Other  fruitless  at- 
tempts were  made  for  a  while,  and  then  were  given  over. 
"  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  and  Captain  Mason  spent  twenty 
thousand  pounds  each,  in  attempts  for  settlement,  and  each 
of  them  thought  it  advisable  to  give  over  their  [his]  designs, 
and  sit  down  with  the  loss.  Whether  Britain  would  have 
had  any  colonies  in  America  at  this  day,  if  religion  had  not 
been  the  grand  inducement,  is  doubtful4." 

The  people  whose  religious  sentiments  are  described  above, 
after  long  consideration,  many  earnest  requests  to  heaven  for 
direction  and  help,  and  well  consulting  matters  with  English 
friends,  at  last  determined  to  come  over  to  this  wilderness  ; 
and  divine  providence  made  them  the  honored  instruments 
of  laying  the  foundation  of  this  now  flourishing  country. 
In  December,  1617,  Mr.  Robinson  and  Elder  Brewster  wrote 
to  the  Council  for  Virginia,  who  then  had  the  management 
of  these  affairs,  wherein  they  say: — 

Prince's  Chronology,  pp.  36,  38.     [130,  131.] 
2In  Maine,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kennebec. — Ed. 
3Prince's  Chronology,  pp.  21—25.     [116—119.] 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  3.     [11,  note.] 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

For  your  encouragement  we  will  not  forbear  to  mention  these  induce- 
ments. 1.  We  verily  believe  and  trust  the  Lord  is  with  us,  to  whom  and 
whose  service  we  have  given  ourselves  in  many  trials  ;  and  that  he  will 
graciously  prosper  our  endeavors  according  to  the  simplicity  of  our  hearts. 
"2.  We  are  well  weaned  from  the  delicate  milk  of  our  mother  country,  and 
inured  to  the  difficulties  of  a  strange  land.  3.  The  people  are,  for  the 
body  of  them,  industrious  and  frugal,  we  think  we  may  safely  say,  as  any 
company  of  people  in  the  world.  4.  We  are  knit  together  as  a  body,  in  a 
most  strict  and  sacred  bond  and  covenant  of  the  Lord  ;  of  the  violation 
whereof  we  make  great  conscience,  and  by  virtue  whereof  we  hold  our- 
selves straitly  tied  to  all  care  of  each  other's  good,  and  of  the  whole. 
5.  It  is  not  with  us  as  with  other  men  ;  whom  small  things  can  discourage, 
or  small  discouragements  cause  to  wish  ourselves  at  home  again1. 

Herein  they  were  not  mistaken,  as  will  soon  appear  ;  for 
though  contentions  among  the  said  Council,  and  other  things, 
obstructed  their  proceeding  till  1620,  and  they  could  not 
then  obtain  any  royal  promise  of  liberty  of  conscience  in 
this  country,  only  that  "  the  king  would  connive  at  them, 
and  not  molest  them  if  they  carried  it  peaceably ;"  "  yet, 
casting  themselves  on  the  care  of  Providence,  they  resolve 
to  venture2."  But  as  they  could  not  obtain  shipping  and  pro- 
vision enough  to  carry  half  their  company  the  first  year,  Mr. 
Robinson  was  obliged  to  tarry  in  Holland  with  the  larger  part, 
while  Mr.  William  Brewster,  their  ruling  elder,  came  over 
with  the  other.  Most  of  their  brethren  came  with  them  from 
Leyden  to  Delft-Haven,  where  they  spent  the  night  in 
friendly,  entertaining  and  Christian  converse.  And  July  22, 
the  wind  being  fair,  they  go  aboard,  their  friends  attending 
them,  when  "  Mr.  Robinson  falling  down  on  his  knees,  and 
they  all  with  him,  he  with  watery  cheeks  commends  them 
with  most  fervent  prayer  to  God  ;  and  then  with  mutual  em- 
braces, and  many  tears,  they  take  their  leave,  and  with  a 
prosperous  gale  come  to  Southampton,"  in  England.  July 
27,  1620,  Mr.  Robinson  wrote  a  letter,  which  was  received 

'Prince,  pp.  51,  52.    [143.]  'Prince,  fl*8,  151.]— Ed. 


[1620.]  *  ROBINSON'S  LETTER.  25 

and  read   to   the   company  at  that  place1;  which  I  think 
worthy  of  a  place  here.     The  letter  is  as  follows2: — 

Loving  Christian  Friends  : — I  do  heartily  and  in  the  Lord  salute  you, 
as  being  those  with  whom  I  am  present  in  my  best  affections,  and  most 
earnest  longing  after  you,  though  I  be  constrained  for  a  while  to  be  bodily 
absent  from  you  :  I  say  constrained  ;  God  knowing  how  willingly,  and 
much  rather  than  otherwise,  I  would  have  borne  my  part  with  you  in  this 
first  brunt,  were  I  not  by  strong  necessity  held  back  for  the  present.  Make 
account  of  me  in  the  mean  time  as  a  man  divided  in  myself,  with  great 
pain,  and  as  (natural  bonds  set  aside)  having  my  better  part  with  you  ; 
and,  although  I  doubt  not  but  in  your  godly  wisdoms  you  both  foresee  and 
resolve  upon  that  which  concerneth  your  present  state  and  condition,  both 
severally  and  jointly,  yet  have  I  thought  it  but  my  duty  to  add  some  further 
spur  of  provocation  unto  them  who  run  [well]  already,  if  not  because  you 
need  it,  yet  because  I  owe  it  in  love  and  duty. 

And  first,  as  we  are  daily  to  renew  our  repentance  with  our  God,  espec- 
ially for  our  sins  known,  and  generally  for  our  unknown  trespasses  ;  so 
doth  the  Lord  call  us  in  a  singular  manner,  upon  occasions  of  such  diffi- 
culty and  danger  as  lieth  upon  you,  to  both  a  narrow  search  and  careful 
reformation  [of  your  ways]  in  his  sight,  lest  he,  calling  to  remembrance 
our  sins  forgotten  by  us,  or  unrepented  of,  take  advantage  against  us,  and 
in  judgment  leave  us  [for  the  same]  to  be  swallowed  up  in  one  danger  or 
other  ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  sin  being  taken  away  by  earnest  repent- 
ance, and  the  pardon  thereof  from  the  Lord  sealed  up  to  a  man's  conscience 
by  his  Spirit,  great  shall  be  his  security  and  peace  in  all  dangers,  sweet  his 
comforts  in  all  distresses,  with  happy  deliverance  from  all  evil,  whether  in 
life  or  death.  Now  next  after  this  heavenly  peace  with  God  and  our  own 
consciences,  we  are  carefully  to  provide  for  peace  with  all  men,  what  in  us 
lieth,  especially  with  our  associates  ;  and  for  that,  watchfulness  must  be 
had,  that  we  neither  at  all  [in]  ourselves  do  give,  no,  nor  easily  take  of- 
fence being  given  by  others.  Wo  be  to  the  world  for  offences,  for  although 
it  be  necessary,  considering  the  malice  of  Satan  and  man's  corruption,  that 
offences  come,  yet  wo  unto  the  man,  or  woman  either,  by  whom  the  offence 
cometh,  saith  Christ.  Matt,  xviii.  7.  And  if  offences  in  the  unseasona- 
ble use  of  things,  in  themselves  indifferent,  be  more  to  be  feared  than  death 
itself,  as  the  apostle  teacheth  ;  1  Cor.  ix.  15  ;  how  much  more  in  things 

Prince,  pp.  70,  71.     [159,  160.] 

2This  letter,  as  given  in  the  different  editions  of  Morton's  Memorial,  and  in 
Mourt's  Relation  and  Neal's  History  of  New  England,  is  considerably  varied.  The 
words  here  added  in  brackets  are  from  the  edition  of  the  Memorial  published  by  the 
Congregational  Board,  Boston,  1855. — Ed. 


26  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

simply  evil,  in  which  neither  the  honor  of  God  nor  love  of  man  is  thought 
worthy  to  be  regarded?  Neither  yet  is  it  sufficient  that  we  keep  ourselves, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  from  giving  offences,  except  withal  we  be  armed 
against  the  taking  of  them,  when  they  are  given  by  others  ;  for  how  im- 
perfect and  lame  is  the  work  of  grace  in  that  person,  who  wants  charity  to 
cover  a  multitude  of  offences?  as  the  Scripture  speaks.  Neither  are  you 
to  be  exhorted  to  this  grace  only  upon  the  common  grounds  of  Christianity, 
which  are,  that  persons  ready  to  take  offence,  either  want  charity  to  cover 
offences,  or  [wisdom]  duly  to  weigh  human  frailties  ;  or,  lastly,  are  gross 
though  close  hypocrites,  as  Christ  our  Lord  teacheth  ;  Matt.  vii.  1 — 3  ;  as 
indeed,  in  my  own  experience,  few  or  none  have  been  fouud  which  sooner 
give  offence,  than  such  as  easily  take  it ;  neither  have  they  ever  proved 
sound  and  profitable  members  in  societies,  who  have  nourished  this  touchy 
humor.  But  besides  these,  there  are  divers  motives  provoking  you  above 
others  to  great  care  and  conscience  this  way  ;  as  first,  there  are  many  of 
you  strangers  as  to  the  persons,  so  to  the  infirmities  one  of  another,  and  so 
stand  in  need  of  more  watchfulness  this  way,  lest  when  such  things  fall  out 
in  men  and  women  as  you  expected  not,  you  be  inordinately  affected  with 
them,  which  doth  require  at  your  hands  much  wisdom  and  charity  for  the 
covering  and  preventing  of  incident  offences  that  way.  And  lastly,  your 
intended  course  of  civil  community  will  minister  continual  occasion  of  of- 
fence1, and  will  be  as  fuel  for  that  fire,  except  you  diligently  quench  it  with 
brotherly  forbearance.  And  if  taking  offence  causelessly  or  easily  at  men's 
doings  be  so  carefully  to  be  avoided  ;  how  much  more  heed  is  to  be  taken 
that  we  take  not  offence  at  God  himself?  Which  yet  we  certainly  do,  so 
oft  as  we  do  murmur  at  his  providence  in  our  crosses,  or  bear  impatiently 
such  afflictions  wherewith  he  is  pleased  to  visit  us.  Store  up  therefore  pa- 
tience against  the  evil  day  ;  without  which  we  take  offence  at  the  Lord  him- 
self in  his  [holy  and]  just  works.  A  fourth  thing  there  is  carefully  to  be 
provided  for,  viz.  that  with  your  common  employments,  you  join  common 
affections,  truly  bent  upon  the  general  good,  avoiding  as  a  deadly  plague 
of  your  both  common  and  special  comforts,  all  retiredness  of  mind  for 
proper  advantage  ;  and  all  singularly  affected  every  manner  of  way,  let 
every  man  repress  in  himself,  and  the  whole  body  in  each  person,  as  so 
many  rebels  against  the  common  good,  all  private  respects  of  men's  selves, 
not  sorting  with  the  general  convenience.  And  as  men  are  careful  not  to 
have  a  new  house,  shaken  with  any  violence,  before  it  be  well  settled,  and 
the  parts  firmly  knit ;  so  be  you,  I  beseech  you  my  brethren,  much  more 
careful  that  the  house  of  God,  which  you  are  and  are  to  be,  be  not  shaken 
with  unnecessary  novelties,  or  other  oppositions,  at  the  first  settling  thereof. 

'For  several  years  their  affairs  were  managed  in  one  common  stock,  but  they  after- 
ward found  the  way  of  distinct  property  to  be  much  hetter. 


[1620.]  ROBINSON'S  LETTER.  27 

Lastly  whereas  you  are  to  become  a  body  politic,  using  amongst  your- 
selves civil  government,  and  are  not  furnished  with  persons  of  special  emi- 
nency  above  the  rest,  to  be  chosen  by  you  into  office  of  government,  let 
your  wisdom  and  godliness  appear,  not  only  in  choosing  such  persons  as  do 
entirely  love,  and  will  promote  the  common  good  ;  but  also  in  yielding  unto 
them  all  due  honor  and  obedience  in  their  lawful  administrations,  not 
beholding  in  them  the  ordinariness  of  their  persons,  but  God's  ordinance 
for  your  good  ;  not  being  like  the  foolish  multitude,  who  more  honor  the 
gay  coat,  than  either  the  virtuous  mind  of  the  man,  or  the  glorious  ordi- 
nance of  the  Lord  ;  but  you  know  better  things,  and  that  the  image  of  the 
Lord's  power  and  authority,  which  the  magistrate  beareth,  is  honorable,  in 
how  mean  persons  soever ;  and  this  duty  you  may  the  more  willingly,  and 
ought  the  more  conscionably  to  perform  because  you  are,  at  least  for 
the  present,  to  have  them  for  your  ordinary  governors,  which  yourselves 
shall  make  choice  of  for  that  work.  Sundry  other  things  of  importance  I 
could  put  you  in  mind  of,  and  of  those  before  mentioned,  in  more  words  ; 
but  I  will  not  so  far  wrong  your  godly  minds,  as  to  think  you  heedless  of 
these  things,  there  being  also  divers  amongst  you  so  well  able  both  to 
admonish  themselves  and  others  of  what  concerneth  them.  These  few 
things  therefore,  and  the  same  in  few  words,  I  do  earnestly  commend  to 
your  care  and  conscience,  joining  therein  with  my  daily  incessant  prayers 
unto  the  Lord,  that  he  who  has  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  sea, 
and  all  rivers  of  waters,  and  whose  providence  is  over  all  his  works,  espec- 
ially over  all  his  dear  children  for  good,  would  so  guide  and  guard  you  in 
your  ways,  as  inwardly  by  his  Spirit,  so  outwardly  by  the  hand  of  his 
power,  as  that  both  you,  and  we  also  for  and  with  you,  may  have  after 
matter  of  praising  his  name  all  the  days  of  your  and  our  lives.  Fare  you 
well  in  him  in  whom  you  trust,  and  in  whom  I  rest,  an  unfeigned  well- 
wisher  to  your  happy  success  in  this  hopeful  voyage. 

John  Robinson.1 

This  excellent  letter  properly  describes  the  sentiments, 
temper  and  rules  of  conduct  of  the  chief  founders  of  New 
England ;  and  may  the  same  be  duly  regarded  to  their  latest 
posterity ! 

By  Dutch  intrigues  and  others'  ill  conduct  they  were  hinder- 
ed long,  and  at  last  forced  to  come  with  only  one  ship  instead 
of  two  ;  which  sailed  from  Plymouth,  in  England,  on  Sep- 
tember 6,  and  arrived  in  Cape  Cod  harbor,  November  11, 
and  at  the  place  which  they  named  Plymouth,  in  December, 
1620. 

'Morton,  pp.  7—10.  [15—19.] 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

And  now  compare  this  company  with  that  of  Sagadahoc. 
That  company,  who  came  upon  worldly  designs,  had  a  hun- 
dred men ;  this  religious  society  consisted  of  but  one  hun- 
dred and  one  souls,  men,  women  and  children  ;  the  one 
arrived  at  the  place  designed  for  settlement  in  August,  the 
other  not  till  winter  had  set  in  ;  the  worldly  company  only 
buried  their  president,  and  all  returned  the  next  year  to 
their  native  country  again ; *  whereas  this  religious  people, 
in  about  five  months  time,  buried  their  governor  and  full 
half  their  number,  and  yet  with  fortitude  and  patience  they 
kept  their  station  ;  yea,  though  they  were  afterwards  deserted 
and  abused  by  some  who  had  engaged  to  help  them.  We 
cannot  now  form  an  adequate  idea  of  what  those  pious 
planters  endured,  to  prepare  the  way  for  what  we  at  this 
day  enjoy.  In  the  year  1623  they  say,  "  By  the  time  our 
corn  is  planted,  our  victuals  are  spent ;  not  knowing  at  night 
where  to  have  a  bit  in  the  morning,  and  have  neither  bread 
nor  corn  for  three  or  four  months  together ;  yet  bear  our 
wants  with  cheerfulness,  and  rest  on  Providence." 2 

It  pleased  God  further  to  try  their  faith,  by  sending  a 
great  drought  and  heat  from  the  third  week  in  May  till  the 
middle  of  July,  which  caused  their  corn  to  wither  as  if  it 
were  truly  dead ;  and  a  ship  that  they  had  long  expected 
did  not  arrive,  but  they  thought  they  saw  signs  of  its  being 
wrecked  on  the  coast.  "  The  most  courageous  are  now  dis- 
couraged.    Upon  this  the  public   authority  set  apart  a  sol- 

1  This  paragraph  seems  hardly  just  to  the  company  at  Sagadahoc.  Doubtless 
their  object  was  gain,  and  they  lacked  the  fortitude  and  patience  which  religious 
principle  inspired  in  the  colonists  of  Plymouth.  But  they  were  not  without  trials. 
The  Indians  proved  hostile  J  the  climate  is  naturally  much  more  rigorous  on  the 
Kennebec  than  at  Plymouth,  and  the  winter  of  1G07-8  was  everywhere  remarkably 
severe;  in  mid-winter  a  fire  broke  out  in  the  settlement  and  consumed  their  store- 
house, with  most  of  their  provisions  and  part  of  their  lodgings;  in  addition  to  the 
loss  of  their  president,  his  brother,  lord-chief-justice  Popham,  the  chief  patron  of 
the  enterprise,  died  In  England,  and  Sir  John  Gilbert,  brother  of  their  second  presi- 
dent, died,  leaving  him  an  estate,  the  care  of  which  compelled  his  return.  Ban- 
croft, I.  268;  Prince,  117,  119;  Hutchinson,  I.  10.— Ed.      . 

'Prince,  p.  186.  [216.] 


[1624.]  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  PLYMOUTH.  29 

emn  day  of  humiliation  and  prayer,  to  seek  the  Lord  in  this 
distress,  who  was  pleased  to  give  speedy  answer,  to  our 
own  and  the  Indians'  admiration  ;  for  though  in  the  former 
part  of  the  day  it  was  very  clear  and  hot,  without  a  sign  of 
rain,  yet  before  the  exercise  is  over  the  clouds  gather,  and 
next  morning  distill  such  soft  and  gentle  showers  as  give 
cause  of  joy  and  praise  to  God."  Their  corn  recovers,  and 
soon  after  arrives  the  ship  they  expected,  bringing  over 
about  sixty  more  of  their  friends,  and  a  letter  from  others, 
wherein  they  say  to  those  here,  "  Let  it  not  be  grievous  to 
you,  that  you  have  been  instruments  to  break  the  ice  for 
others  who  come  after  with  less  difficulty.  The  honor  shall 
be  yours  to  the  world's  end.  We  bear  you  always  in  our 
breasts,  and  our  hearty  affection  is  towards  you  all,  as  are 
the  hearts  of  hundreds  more  who  never  saw  your  faces,  who 
doubtless  pray  for  your  safety  as  their  own."1  Their  har- 
vest was  plentiful ;  and  above  twenty  years  after,  Governor 
Bradford  says,  "  Nor  has  there  been  any  general  want  of 
food  among  us  since  to  this  day."2 

Mr.  Robinson  and  many  of  his  people  "were  detained  in 
Holland,  till,  after  about  a  week's  illness,  he  died  there  on 
March  1,  1625,  aged  near  fifty  years.  Governor  Bradford 
says,  '*  His  and  our  enemies  had  been  continually  plotting 
how  they  might  hinder  his  coming  hither,  but  the  Lord  has 
appointed  him  a  better  place."  Mr.  Prince  says,  "  His  son 
Isaac  came  over  to  Plymouth  colony,  lived  to  above  ninety 
years  of  age,  a  venerable  man,  whom  I  have  often  seen, 
and  has  left  male  posterity  in  the  county  of  Barnstable."3 

The  cause  why  Mr.  Robinson  and  the  remaining  part  of 
his  church  were  kept  back  so  long,  was  their  inability  to 
transport  themselves  ;  and  several  merchants  who  had  en- 
gaged in  the  affair  deserted  them,  pursuing  separate  schemes 
of  their  own,  and  sent  over  one   company   of    sixty  stout 

1  Prince,  pp.  137— HO.   [218—220.]  2  Prince,  p.  HI.  [221.] 

3 Prince,  pp,  159,  160.  [238.] 


30  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

men,  who  began  a  plantation  at  Weymouth ;  but  soon  re- 
duced themselves  to  such  straits  that  several  perished,  and 
the  rest  were  forced  to  be  beholden  to  the  charity  of  Ply- 
mouth people,  to  keep  them  alive  till  they  could  get  back 
whence  they  came.  Another  worldly  scheme  was  begun  at 
Brain  tree,  which  also  proved  abortive  ;  while  our  Christian 
fathers  at  Plymouth  were  enabled  to  keep  their  station. 
Some  of  the  adventurers  wrote  to  them  on  December  18, 
1624,  and  said,  "  We  are  still  persuaded  you  are  the  people 
that  must  make  a  plantation  in  those  remote  places,  when 
all  others  fail." !  They  were  long  destitute  of  a  pastor,  and 
yet  constantly  maintained  divine  worship  among  them  ;  of 
which  a  noted  author  gives  this  account : — 

To  satisfy  the  reader,  how  a  Christian  church,  could,  in  any  tolerable 
measure,  carry  on  the  public  worship  of  God  without  suitable  officers,  as 
was  the  case  of  those  people  of  Plymouth,  we  must  know  that  those  were 
a  serious  and  religious  people,  that  knew  their  own  principles,  knew  and 
were  resolved  on  the  way  of  their  worship,  but  in  many  years  could  not 
prevail  with  any  to  come  over  to  them,  and  undertake  the  office  of  a  pastor 
amongst  them,  at  least  none  in  whom  they  could  with  full  satisfaction 
acquiesce,  and  therefore  in  the  mean  while  they  were  peaceably  and  pru- 
dently managed  by  the  wisdom  of  Mr.  Brewster,  a  grave  and  serious  per- 
son, ruling  elder  among  them Besides  also  several  of  his  people  were 

well  gifted,  and  did  spend  part  of  the  Lord's  day  in  their  wonted  prophe- 
sying, to  which  they  had  been  accustomed  by  Mr.  Robinson.  Those  gifts 
while  they  lasted  made  the  burthen  of  the  other  defect  more  easily 
borne. 2 

The  names   of  those   first  planters   were,  John   Carver, 
William  Bradford,  Edward  Winslow,  successive  Governors; 

1  Prince  p.  156.  [233.] 

■Hubbard,  [p.  65.]  Mr.  Robinson  says,  "  The  disciples  of  Christ  did  not  then  first 
receive  power  to  teach  when  they  were  possessed  of  their apostleship,  hut  long hefore 
they  were  admitted  into  office,  as  did  others  also  besides  them,  without  office,  as 
well  sis  tiny.  Matt.  x.  6,  6.  7f  Luke  x.  1—3,  i),  10."  Answer  to  Bernard,  P.  148. 
[15G.]  "That  we  call  prophesying,  I  affirm  not  to  be  so  appropriated  to  the  minis- 
try, hut  that  others  having  received  a  gift  thereunto,  may  and  ought  to  stir  up  the 
same,  and  to  use  it  in  the  church,  for  edification,  exhortation  and  comfort,  though  not 
yet  called  into  the  office  of  the  ministry.  Rom.  xii.  G;  1  Cor.  xiv.  3;  1  Pet.  iv.  10, 
11."     Ibid,   P.  235.  [24G.  247.] 


[1624.]  EAKLY  HISTORY  OF  PLYMOUTH.  31 

William  Brewster,  elder ;  Captain  Miles  Standish,1  John 
Alden,  Samuel  Fuller,  Richard  Warren,  Stephen  Hopkins, 
and  others,  each  of  whom  have  posterity  remaining  among 
us  to  this  day.  "  I  am  not  preserving  from  oblivion  the 
names  of  heroes,  whose  chief  merit  is  the  overthrow  of 
cities,  provinces  and  empires  ;  but  the  names  of  the  foun- 
ders of  a  nourishing  town  and  colony,  if  not  of  the  whole 
British  empire  in  America." 2  Their  deep  poverty  and  the 
abundance  of  their  joy,  abounded  unto  the  riches  of  their 
liberality,  so  as  not  only  to  enable  them  to  relieve  many  in 
distress,  but  also  to  launch  out  so  as  to  help  over  about 
thirty-five  families  more  of  their  friends  from  Leyden,  who 
were  transported  hither  in  1629,  at  the  charge  of  their  breth- 
ren here,  which  was  cheerfully  borne  by  them,  though  it 
amounted  to  above  five  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling, 
besides  supporting  them  after  their  arrival  for  sixteen  or 
eighteen  months,  till  they  had  a  harvest  of  their  own,  which 
cost  near  as  much  more.  "  Meanwhile,"  says  Governor 
Bradford,  "  God  gives  us  peace  and  health,  with  contented 
minds,  and  so  succeeds  our  labors  that  we  have  corn  suffi- 
cient, and  some  to  spare,  with  other  provisions.  Nor  had 
we  ever  any  supply  from  England  but  what  we  first  brought 
with  us."3  The  first  horned  cattle  that  they  ever  had  here 
were  a  bull  and  three  heifers,  which  Governor  Winslow 
brought  over  to  Plymouth  in  March,  1624. 

About  that  time,  "  the  fame  of  the  plantation  at  New 
Plymouth  being  spread  in  all  the  western  parts  of  England, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  White,  a  famous    Puritan    minister  of  Dor- 

1  The  original  edition  here  gives  the  name  of  Robert  Cushman.  Mr.  Backus  evi- 
dently discovered  the  mistake,  as  he  omits  the  name  in  his  Abridgment.  Mr. 
Cushman  came  in  the  ship  Fortune,  in  November,  1621,  and  returned  in  the  same 
ship  after  a  stay  of  "  not  above  fourteen  days."  He  was  the  agent  of  the  colony 
until  his  death  in  1G26.  Morton  calls  him  "their  ancient  friend  who  was  as  their 
right  hand  with  their  friends  the  adventurers,  and  for  divers  years  had  done  and 
agitated  all  their  business  with  them,  to  their  great  advantage."  Morton's  Memorial, 
pp.  26,  50,  83—85;  Prince,  pp.  172,  220,  221,  238;  Hubbard,  69.— Ed. 

2  Massachusetts  History,  Vol  n.  pp.  462,463.  [412,  note.] 

3  Prince,  pp.  156,  201.  [235,  264,  265.] 


32  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

Chester,  excites  several  gentlemen  there  to  make  way  for 
another  settlement  in  New  England.''1  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Massachusetts  colony.  In  the  year  16*24  a  few 
persons  gathered  at  Cape  Ann,  who  removed  the  next  year, 
and  began  the  town  of  Salem,  to  whom  others  resorted  from 
time  to  time,  till  in  the  summer  of  1628,  Mr.  John  Endicott 
came  over  to  govern  them,  and  in  1G29,  Mr.  Erancis  Higgin- 
son  and  Mr.  Samuel  Skelton,  two  Nonconformist  ministers 
came  with  many  others,  and  formed  and  organized  a  church 
in  that  place.  Upon  which  we  may  see  Mr.  Robinson's 
words  verified  ;  for  these  Puritans  who  had  blamed  him  for 
an  entire  separation  from  the  national  church,  yet  were  no 
sooner  settled  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  than  they  cast  off 
the  prelates'  yoke  in  such  a  manner,  that  when  John  Brown 
and  Samuel  Brown,  two  of  the  "  first  patentees,  men  of 
estates,  and  men  of  parts,"  attempted  to  set  up  Episcopal 
worship  at  Salem,  Governor  Endicott  convented  them  before 
him,  where  they  "accused  the  ministers  as  departing  from  the 
orders  of  the  church  of  England;  that  they  were  separatists, 
and  would  be  Anabaptists,  &c,  but  for  themselves  they 
would  hold  to  the  orders  of  the  church  of  England."  These 
speeches  and  practices  were  judged  by  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  be  such  as  tended  "to  mutiny  and  faction,  and 
the  Governor  told  them  that  New  England  was  no  place  for 
such  as  they,  and  therefore  sent  them  back  for  England,  at 
the  return  of  the  ships,  the  same  year."2 

By  this  and  many  other  instances  we  may  see,  that  the 
men  who  drew  off  from  the  national  establishment,  as  soon 
as  they  were  convinced  that  truth  called  them  to  it,  were 
not  so  severe  against  dissenters  from  themselves,  as  they 
were  who  stayed  till  interest  and  civil  power  would  favor  the 
cause  before  they  separated. 

In  the  year  1G30,  Governor  \Yinthrop  with  about  fifteen 

1  Prince,  p.  144.  [224.]  2Morton's  Memorial,  pp,  84,  85,  [100,  101.] 


[1630.]  SETTLEMENT  OF  BOSTON  AND  VICINITY.  33 

hundred  people  came  over,  and  planted  Charlestown,  Bos- 
ton, Dorchester,  and  Watertown.  and  soon  formed  churches 
in  each  town.     Of  these  people  Mr.  Hubbard  says  : — 

Intending  not  to  write  an  apology,  but  a  history  of  their  practice, 
nothing  shall  here  be  interposed  by  way  of  defence  of  their  way,  only  to 
give  a  clear  discovery  of  the  truth,  as  to  matter  of  fact,  both  what  it  was 
at  first,  and  still  continues  to  be.'  Those  that  came  over  soon  after  Mr. 
Endicott,  namely  Mr.  hiigginson  and  Mr.  Skelton,  Anno  1629,  walked 
something  in  an  untrodden  path,  therefore  it  is  the  less  to  be  wondered  at, 
if  they  went  but  in  and  out ;  in  some  things  complying  too  much,  in  some 
things  too  little,  with  those  of  the  separation  ;  and  it  may  be  in  some  things 
not  sufficiently  attending  to  the  order  of  the  gospel,  as  themselves  thought 
they  understood  afterwards.  For  in  the  beginning  of  things  they  only 
accepted  of  one  another  according  to  some  general  profession  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  gospel,  and  the  honest  and  good  intentions  they  had  one 
towards  another,  and  so  by  some  kind  of  covenant  soon  moulded  them- 
selves into  a  church  in  every  plantation  where  they  took  up  their  abode1 ; 
until  Mr.  Cotton  and  Mr.  Hooker  came  over,  which  was  in  the  year  1633, 
who  did  clear  up  the  order  and  method  of  church  government,  according 
as  they  apprehended  was  most  consonant  to  the  word  of  God.  And  such 
was  the  authority  they,  especially  Mr.  Cotton,  had  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people,  that  whatever  he  delivered  in  the  pulpit  was  soon  put  into  an  order 
of  court,  if  of  a  civil,  or  set  up  as  a  practice  in  the  church,  if  of  an 
ecclesiastical  concernment.  After  that  time,  the  administration  of  all 
ecclesiastical  matters  was  tied  up  more  strictly  than  before  to  the  rules  of 
that  which  is  since  owned  for  the  Congregational  way.  The  principal 
points  wherein  they  differ  from  others  may  be  reduced  to  these  four 
heads : — 

1  The  covenant  of  the  first  church  in  Boston  was  in  these  words  : — 
"  In  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  obedience  to  his  holy  will  and 
divine  ordinance,  \ve  whose  names  are  here  underwritten,  being  by  his  most  wise 
and  good  providence  brought  together  into  this  part  of  America,  in  the  Bay  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  desirous  to  unite  ourselves  into  one  congregation  or  church,  under 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  our  Head,  in  such  sort  as  becometh  all  those  whom  he  hath 
redeemed  and  sanctified  to  himself,  do  hereby  solemnly  and  religiously  (as  in  his 
most  holy  presence)  promise  and  bind  ourselves  to  walk  in  all  our  ways  according 
to  the  rule  of  the  gospel,  and  in  all  sincere  conformity  to  his  holy  ordinances,  and 
in  mutual  love  and  respect  each  to  other,  so  near  as  God  shall  give  us  grace. 

John  Winthrop, 
Thomas  Dudley. 
Isaac  Johnson. 
John  Wilson."  &c. 
Mr.  Foxcraft's  Century  Sermon  at  Boston. 
3 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

1.  The  subject  matter  of  the  visible  church,  saiDts  by  calling;  such  as 
have  not  only  attained  the  knowledge  of .  the  principles  of  religion,  and  are 
free  from  gross  and  open  scandal,  but  are  willing,  together  with  the  pro- 
fession of  their  repentance  and  faith  in  Christ,  to  declare  their  subjection 
to  him  in  his  ordinances,  which  they  account  ought  to  be  done  publicly  be- 
fore the  Lord  and  his  people,  by  an  open  profession  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
gospel,  and  by  a  personal  relation  of  their  spiritual  estate,  expressive  of 
the  manner  how  they  were  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  God  by  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus  ;  and  this  is  done  either  with  their  viva  voce,  or  by  a  rehearsal 
thereof  by  the  elders  in  public  before  the  church  assembly,  they  having  be- 
forehand received  private  satisfaction,  the  persons  openly  testifying  their 
assent  thereunto,  provided  they  do  not  scandalize  their  profession  by  an  un- 
christian conversation,  in  which  case  a  profession  is  with  them  of  small 
account. 

2.  In  the  constitutive  form  of  a  particular  visible  church  ;  which  they 
account  ought  to  be  a  astipulation,  or  mutual  covenanting  to  walk  to- 
gether in  their  Christian  communion,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  gospel ; 
and  this  they  say  is  best  to  be  explicit,  although  they  do  not  deny  but  an 
implicit  covenant  may  suffice  to  the  being  of  a  true  church. 

3.  In  the  quantity  or  extensiveness  of  a  particular  church  ;  concerning 
which  they  hold  that  no  church  society,  of  gospel  institution,  ought  to  be 
of  larger  extent,  or  greater  number,  than  may  ordinarily  meet  together  in 
one  place,  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  same  numerical  ordinances,  and 
celebrating  of  all  divine  worship,  nor  ordinarily  fewer  than  may  conven- 
iently carry  on  church  wrork. 

4.  That  there  is  no  jurisdiction,  to  which  such  particular  churches  are 
or  ought  to  be  subject,  be  it  placed  in  classis  or  synod,  by  way  of  author- 
itative censure,  nor  any  church  power,  extrinsical  to  the  said  churches 
which  they  ought  to  have  dependence  upon  any  other  sort  of  men  for  the 
exercise  of. 

"After  this  manner,"  says  Mr.  Hubbard,  "have  their  ec- 
clesiastical affairs  been  carried  on  ever  since  the  year  1633;" 
that  is,  down  to  1680,  when  he  wrote  his  history. 

Here  let  it  be  well  observed  and  ever  remembered,  that 
these  were  the  main  points  wherein  they  differed  from  oth- 
ers ;  and  the  reader  is  welcome  to  search  through  all  their 
history  from  that  day  to  this,  and  see  if  he  can  find  that 
these  principles,  in  themselves  considered,  ever  produced 
any  evil  effects.  But  this  people  brought  two  other  princi- 
ples with  them  from  their  native  country,  in  which  they  did 


[1631.]  RELATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.  35 

not  differ  from  others  ;  which  are,  that  natural  birth,  and 
the  doings  of  men,  can  bring  children  into  the  covenant  of 
grace  ;  and,  that  it  is  right  to  enforce  and  support  their  own 
sentiments  about  religion  with  the  magistrate's  sword.  And 
those,  let  them  live  in  England,  Scotland,  Rome,  or  else- 
where, who  reproach  and  condemn  Xew  England  for  the 
evils  which  these  two  principles  have  produced,  while  they 
hold  the  same  things,  ought  to  consider  that  in  so  doing  they 
will  be  found  inexcusable  before  our  Great  Judge. 

The  root  of  a  compulsive  uniformity  was  planted  at  a  Gen- 
eral Court  in  Boston,  May  18,  1631,  when  it  was  "  ordered 
and  agreed,  that  for  the  time  to  come,  no  man  shall  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  freedom  of  this  body  politic,  but  such  as  are 
members  of  some  of  the  churches  within  the  limits  of  the 
same1."  This  test  in  after  times  had  such  influence,  that  he 
who  "  did  not  conform,  was  deprived  of  more  civil  privileges 
than  a  nonconformist  is  deprived  of  by  the  test  in  England. 
Both  the  one  and  the  other  must  have  occasioned  much  for- 
mality and  hypocrisy.  The  mysteries  of  our  holy  religion 
kave  been  prostituted  to  mere  secular  views  and  advan- 
tages2." 

If  in  any  instances  this  people  carried  their  zeal  to  a 
greater  severity  than  Episcopalians  have  often  done,  let  it  be 
remembered,  that  the  latter  hold  a  power  in  their  church  to 
decree  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  so  consequently  a  power  to 
abate  or  alter  the  same  as  occasion  suits ;  but  the  fathers  of 
the  Massachusetts  held  the  Scriptures  to  be  their  unaltera- 
ble rule,  and  having  formed  a  plan  which  they  thought  was 
truly  scriptural,  Captain  Johnson  in  1651  said,  "  To  them  it 
seems  unreasonable,  and  to  savor  too  much  of  hypocrisy, 
that  any  people  should  pray  unto  the  Lord  for  the  speedy 
accomplishment  of  his  word  in  the  overthrow  of  antichrist, 
and  in  the  meantime  become  a  patron  to  sinful  opinions  and 

Prince's  Annals,  pp.  28,  29.     [354.] 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  431.     [380.] 


36  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

damnable  errors  that  oppose  the  truths  of  Christ,  admit  it 
be  but  in  the  bare  permission  of  them1."  Hence  it  appears, 
that  it  was  this  erroneous  notion  of  using  carnal  weapons 
against  what  they  looked  upon  as  false  opinions,  that  ought 
to  bear  the  blame  and  reproach  of  those  persecutions,  and 
not  their  particular  religious  denomination,  nor  any  of  their 
zeal  to  promote  religion  by  gospel  means  and  methods. 

That  they  were  not  aware  how  unscripturally  they  had 
confounded  church  and  state  together,  appears  from  many 
facts.  They  were  so  much  concerned  to  keep  them  distinct, 
that  in  1632  the  church  of  Boston  wrote  to  the  elders  and 
brethren  of  the  churches  of  Plymouth,  Salem,  &c.  for  their 
advice  in  three  questions  ;  1.  Whether  one  person  might  be 
a  civil  magistrate  and  a  ruling  elder  at  the  same  time  I  2.  If 
not,  then  which  should  he  lay  down  ?  3.  Whether  there 
might  be  divers  pastors  in  the  same  church  ?  The  first  was 
agreed  by  all  negatively  ;  the  other  two  doubtful2."  In  con- 
sequence of  which,  Mr.  Nowell  resigned  his  office  of  ruling 
elder,  to  which  he  had  been  ordained  in  the  church,  to  hold 
those  of  a  magistrate  and  secretary  in  the  state3.  On  the 
other  hand,  Mr.  John  Doan,  having  been  formerly  chosen  to 
the  office  of  deacon  in  the  church  of  Plymouth,  at  his  and 
the  church's  request,  was  freed  from  the  office  of  Assistant 
in  the  commonwealth4. 

Again  our  late  Governor  says,  "  I  suppose  there  had  been 
no  instance  of  a  marriage  lawfully  celebrated  by  a  layman  in 
England,  when  they  left  it.  I  believe  there  was  no  instance 
of  marriage  by  a  clergyman  after  they  arrived,  during  their 
charter ;  but  it  was  always  done  by  a  magistrate,  or  by  per- 
sons specially  appointed  for  that  purpose.  It  is  difficult  to 
assign  a  reason  for  so  sudden  a  change5."  I  happened  to  ob- 
serve a  passage  in  Mr.  Ilobinson  which  I  suppose  gives  us 

'Johnson's  History,  p.  200.  3IIubbard,  180.— Ed. 

2Prince's  Annals,  p.  G4.     [398.]  'Prince's  Annals,  p.  02.     [432.] 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  444.     [392.] 


[1633.]  RELATION  OF  CHURCH  AND  STATE.  37 

the  true  reason  of  that  great  change.  Mr.  Bernard  had 
charged  the  Separatists  with  an  error,  which  he  said  they 
had  given  neither  reason  nor  Scripture  for,  in  holding  that 
ministers  may  not  celebrate  marriage,  nor  bury  the  dead. 
To  which  Mr.  Robinson  answers : — 

In  our  third  petition  to  the  king,  and  the  fourth  branch  of  the  sixth 
proposition,  there  are  almost  twenty  several  Scriptures,  and  nine  distinct 
reasons  grounded  upon  them,  to  prove,  that  the  celebration  of  marriage, 
and  burial  of  the  dead,  -are  not  ecclesiastical  actions,  appertaining  to  the 

ministry,  but  civil,  and  so  to  be  performed The  apostle  testifieth 

that  the  Scriptures,  being  divinely  inspired,  do  make  perfect,  and  fully  fur- 
nished, the  man  of  God,  or  minister,  to  every  good  work  of  his  calling. 
Now  I  suppose  Mr.  B.  will  not  be  so  ill  advised,  as  to  go  about  to  prove 
that  the  celebration  of  marriage,  and  burial  of  the  dead,  are  duties  pre- 
scribed by  the  Lord  Jesus  to  be  done  in  the  pastor's  office,  or  that  the  Scrip- 
tures lay  this  furniture  upon  the  man  of  God  for  the  proper  works  of  his 
office.  They  are  then  other  spiritual  lords  than  the  Lord  Christ,  that  pre- 
scribe these  duties  to  be  done  by  their  men,  furnished  by  other  Scriptures 
than  the  divine  Scriptures,  the  bishop's  Scriptures,  their  canons  and  consti- 
tutions ;  whereby  they  are  furnished  indeed  with  ring,  service-book,  and 
other  priestly  implements  for  the  business1. 

This  I  suppose  accounts  for  that  change  in  our  fathers'  con- 
duct then;  though  it  is  likely  we  are  agreed  in  general  now, 
that,  as  it  was  an  error  of  popery  to  call  marriage  a  sacra- 
ment, and  to  limit  its  administration  to  the  clergy,  so  on  the 
other  hand  that  it  was  a  mistake  in  those  fathers  to  think  that 
the  civil  state  might  not  as  well  appoint  ministers  to  celebrate 
marriages  as  any  other  persons. 

These  and  many  other  things  prove  that  those  fathers  were 
earnestly  concerned  to  frame  their  constitution  both  in  church 
and  state  by  divine  rule;  and  as  all  allow  that  nothing  teaches 
like  experience,  surely  they  who  are  enabled  well  to  improve 
the  experience  of  past  ages,  must  find  it  easier  now  to  dis- 
cover the  mistakes  of  that  day,  than  it  was  for  them  to  do 
it  then.  Even  in  1637,  when  a  number  of  puritan  ministers 
in  England,  and  the  famous  Mr.  Dod  among  them,  wrote  to 

Justification  of  Separation,  p.  438.     [465.] 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  ministers  here,  that  it  was  reported  that  they  had  em- 
braced certain  new  opinions,  such  as  "that  a  stinted  form  of 
prayer  and  set  liturgy  is  unlawful;  that  the  children  of  godly 
and  approved  Christians  are  not  to  be  baptized,  until  their 
parents  be  set  members  of  some  particular  congregation ; 
that  the  parents  themselves,  though  of  approved  piety,  are 
not  to  be  received  to  the  Lord's  Supper  until  they  be  admit- 
ted set  members,"  &c,  Mr.  Hooker  expressed  his  fears  of 
troublesome  work  about  answering  of  them1,  though  they 
may  appear  easy  to  the  present  generation, 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  81.     [80,  81,] 


CHAPTER    II. 


Mr.  Roger  Williams's  sentiments,  and  his  banishment,  with  other 
affairs,  from  1634  to  1644. 

Mr.  Hubbard  tells  us,  that  "  February  5,  1631,1  arrived 
Mr.  William  Peirse  at  Xantasket ;  with  him  came  one  Mr. 
Roger  Williams,2  of  good  account  in  England  for  a  godly 

Hubbard,  p.  202.  Hubbard,  according  to  tbe  custom  of  his  time,  commences  the 
year  with  March  25,  and  thus  gives  this  date  1630.  Winthrop  (Vol.  I,  page  41)  does 
the  same.  Backus,  according  to  his  plan,  as  stated  in  the  preface  to  his  first  vol- 
ume, has  changed  the  date  to  conform  to  the  present  mode  of  reckoning.  If  Mr. 
Knowles  had  read  and  remembered  this  preface  he  would  not  have  charged  Backus 
with  error  in  this  date,  or  with  neglect  to  observe  the  difference  between  the  old  and 
the  new  style.     See  Knowles's  Memoir  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  45. — Ed. 

2Of  the  life  of  Roger  Williams,  previous  to  his  arrival  in  America,  the  accounts 
are  meagre  and  often  untrustworthy  and  contradictory.  It  is  a  tradition  that  he 
he  was  born  in  Wales,  in  1599.  With  this  agrees  his  own  statement  in  a  letter 
written  in  July.  1679,  quoted  in  Chapter  III,  in  which  he  speaks  of  himself  as  being 
"  near  to  four  score  years  of  age."  He  appears  to  have  become  early  a  subject  of 
experimental  religion.  In  1673  he  wrote,  "  From  my  childhood,  now  about  three 
score  years,  the  Father  of  lights  and  mercies  touched  my  soul  with  a  love  to  him- 
self, to  his  only  begotten,  the  true  Lord  Jesus,  to  his  holy  Scriptures."  In  his  youth 
he  was  taken  under  the  patronage  of  the  famous  lawyer  and  statesman,  Sir  Edward 
Coke.  It  is  said  that  Coke's  interest  in  him  was  aroused  by  seeing  him  in  church 
taking  notes  of  the  discourse,  and  upon  asking  to  look  at  the  notes  he  was  so  much 
impressed  with  the  ability  of  the  boy  that  he  at  once  obtained  permission  from  his 
parents  to  superintend  his  education,  (Knowles's  Memoir  of  Roger  Williams,  p. 
24.)  In  the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  there  is  still  preserved  a  letter 
from  Roger  Williams  to  Mrs.  Sadlier,  daughter  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  to  which  she 
has  appended  the  words,  "  This  Roger  Williams,  when  he  was  a  youth,  would,  in  a 
short-hand,  take  sermons  and  speeches  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and  present  them  to 
my  dear  father."  His  patron  placed  him  in  school  at  Sutton's  Hospital,  now  the 
Charter  House,  from  the  records  of  which  we  learn  that  he  entered  there  in  1621, 


40  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  zealous  preacher.  He  had  been  some  years  employed 
in  the  ministry  in  England.''1  Accordingly  1  find  Mr.  Wil- 
liams reminding  Mr.  Cotton  of  conversation  he  had  with  him 
and  Mr.  Hooker,  while  they  were  riding  together,   "  to  and 

and  obtained  an  exhibition  in  1G24.  (Elton.  Life  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  11.)  From 
Sutton's  Hospital  there  is  little  doubt  that  he  was  sent  to  the  University  of  Cam- 
bridge, where  Coke  himself  was  graduated.  A  Williams,  whose  first  name  is  not 
given,  entered  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  in  1G23,  and  a  Roger  Williams, 
probably  the  same  person,  was  matriculated  a  pensioner  there  in  1G25,  and  took  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  1G27.  His  signature  upon  the  college  books  in  sub- 
scribing to  the  thirty-nine  articles,  a  prerequisite  of  graduation,  is  said  to  bear  un- 
mistakable resemblance  to  that  of  the  founder  of  Providence.  (Arnold's  History 
of  Rhode  Island,  Vol.  I,  p.  49.  Bancroft,  Vol.  I,  p.  361.  Guild's  Biographical 
Introduction  to  the  writings  of  Roger  Williams,  Publications  of  the  Narragansett 
Club,  Vol.  I,  pp.  5-8.)  It  is  the  tradition  indeed,  that  Roger  Williams  was  gradu- 
ated at  Oxford  :  and  Elton,  (p.  10,)  would  identify  him  with  Rodericus  Williams  who 
entered  Jesus  College,  April  30,  1G24,  aged  eighteen.  But  this  is  inconsistent  with 
Williams's  own  statement  of  his  age,  already  quoted,  and  would  make  him  only 
twenty-five  when  he  landed  on  the  shores  of  the  new  world, — evidently  allowing 
him  too  little  time  to  have  passed  through  the  experiences  which  had  already  fitted 
him  for  the  part  that  awaited  him  here.  Moreover,  Wood,  in  his  Athenae  Oxonien- 
ses,  in  connection  with  another  of  the  same  name,  mentions  Roger  Williams  who 
wrote  the  key  to  the  language  of  New  England,  with  the  words,  "  But  of  what  uni- 
versity the  said  Williams  was,  if  of  any,  I  know  not." 

After  his  graduation,  Williams  is  said  to  have  studied  law  under  the  direction 
of  Coke,  but  if  so,  he  must  have  soon  abandoned  this  pursuit  for  the  more  congenial 
one  of  theology.  He  received  Episcopal  ordination,  and  is  said  to  have  assumed 
the  charge  of  a  parish.  At  this  time  the  line  of  separation  between  conformists 
and  nonconformists  was  rigidly  drawn.  Charles  I  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  1G25, 
and  at  once  disappointed  the  hopes  of  the  puritans  by  showing  himself  even  less 
liberal  than  James,  his  father  In  1G28,  he  placed  Laud  in  the  See  of  London,  and 
in  effect,  entrusted  to  him  the  whole  government  of  the  English  church.  It  was 
Laud's  ambition  to  secure  universal  conformity.  Says  Macaulay,  4i  Under  his  direc- 
tion, every  corner  of  the  realm  was  subjected  to  a  constant  and  minute  inspection. 
Every  little  congregation  of  separatists  was  tracked  out  and  broken  up.  liven  the 
devotions  of  private  families  could  not  escape  the  vigilance  of  his  spies."  The  asso- 
ciations of  Williams's  previous  life  were  such  as  would  incline  him  towards  the 
nonconformists.  Sir  Edward  Coke  was  not  unfavorable  to  them  ;  they  had  large 
influence  in  the  I ' Diversity  of  Cambridge,  and  Dr.  Williams,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
under  whom  there  are  indications  that  Roger  Williams  held  his  living,  was  on  the 
eve  of  suffering  severest  persecution  for  bis  leaning  towards  them.  Moreover,  Roger 
Williams's  natural  character,  the  Calvinism  of  his  doctrinal  views,  and  the  fervor 
of  his  piety,  all  contributed  to  make  him  a  puritan.  He  was  not  a  man  who  could 
hide  his  views  and  principles,  it  was  evident  that  persecution  could  not  long  fail 
to  reach  him.  and  to  escape  it,  and  to  secure  for  himself  "  soul-freedom,"  he  left 
his  native  country  bn-  the  wilds  of  America.  His  subsequent  history  is  sufficiently 
told  in  the  pages  that  follow.— Ed. 

!It  appears  by  his  own  account  that  he  was  then  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his 
age. 


[1634.]  ARRIVAL   OF   ROGER    WILLIAMS.  -il 

from  Sempringham."1  From  whence  it  appears  that  Mr. 
Williams  was  acquainted  with  those  two  famous  men,  in  our 
mother  country,  and  the  subject  of  that  conversation  shows 
that  he  could  not  then  conform  to  the  national  church  so 
far  as  they  did. 

Mr.  Hubbard  says,  "  Immediately  after  his  arrival  he  was 
called  by  the  church  of  Salem  to  join  with  Mr.  Skelton  ; 
but  the  Governor  and  Council  being  informed  thereof,  wrote 
to  Mr.  Endicott,  to  desire  they  would  forbear  any  further 
proceeding  therein,  till  the  said  council  had  conferred  fur- 
ther about  it.  1.  Because  he  refused  to  join  with  the  con- 
gregation [i.  e.  church]  of  Boston,  because  they  would  not 
make  a  public  declaration  of  their  repentance,  for  holding 
communion  with  the  church  of  England  while  they  lived 
there.  2.  Because  he  declared  it  his  opinion,  that  the  civil 
magistrate  might  not  punish  any  breach  of  the  first  table  ; 
whereupon  they  for  the  present  forbode  proceeding  with 
him,  which  occasioned  his  being  called  to  Plymouth  ;"2 
where,  Governor  Bradford  says,  ;i  He  was  freely  entertained, 
according  to  our  poor  ability,  and  exercised  his  gifts  among 
us  ;  and  after  some  time  was  admitted  a  member  of  the 
church,  and  his  teaching  well  approved ;  for  the  benefit 
whereof  I  still  bless  God,  and  am  thankful  to  him  even  for 
his  sharpest  admonitions  and  reproofs,  so  far  as  they  agreed 
with  truth."3 

As  the  two  points  which  were  so  offensive  to  the  rulers  at 
Boston,  were  the  foundation  cause  of  their  after  proceed- 
ings against  Mr.  Williams,  and  closely  affect  the  history  of 
our  country  to  this  day,  they  demand  our  close  attention. 
The  Governor  and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  colony 
held  communion  with  the  national  church,  and  reflected 
upon  their  brethren  who  separated  from  her,  while  in  their 
native  island  ;  and  on  their  departure  from  it,  they  from  on 

'Hubbard,  p.  203.— Ed.  2Prince.  p.  13.  [377.] 

3Reply  to  Cotton  on  the  Bloody  Tenet,  p.  12. 


42  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

board  their  chief  ship  wrote  to  those  who  were  left  behind, 
April  7,  1630,  in  these  words1 : — 

Reverend  Fathers  and  Brethren  : —  ....  Howsoever  your  charity 
may  have  met  with  some  occasion  of  discouragement,  through  the  misrep- 
resentation of  our  intentioDs,  ....  yet  we  desire  you  would  be  pleased  to 
take  notice  of  the  principles  and  body  of  our  company,  as  those  who  esteem 
it  our  honor  to  call  the  church  of  England,  from  whence  we  rise,  our  dear 
mother,  and  cannot  part  from  our  native  country,  where  she  specially 
resideth,  without  much  sadness  of  heart,  and  many  tears  in  our  eyes  ; 
ever  acknowledging  that  such  hope  and  part  as  we  have  obtained  in  the 
common  salvation,  we  have  received  in  her  bosom,  and  sucked  it  from  her 
breasts.  We  leave  it  not  therefore,  as  loathing  that  milk  wherewith  we 
were  nourished  there,  but  blessing  God  for  the  parentage  and  education,  as 
members  of  the  same  body,  shall  always  rejoice  in  her  good 

John  Winthrop,  Governor. 

Charles  Fines. 

George  Philips. 

Richard  Saltonstall. 

Isaac  Johnson. 

Thomas  Dudley. 

William  Coddington.  &c.2 

Now  as  Episcopalians  down  to  this  day,  try  to  improve 
this  address,  as  an  evidence  that  New  England  was  first 
planted  by  members  of  their  church  (though  the  foregoing 
history  shows  that  it  was  not  so)  we  may  safely  conclude 
that  the  ruling  party  of  the  nation  did  not  neglect  the 
advantage  hereby  given  to  strengthen  themselves  then  in  their 
way,  which  was  so  corrupt,  that  when  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  a  little  after  commenced  a  prosecution  against 
Mr.  Cotton,  the  Earl  of  Dorset  interceded  for  him,  till  he 
found  matters  were  got  to  such  a  pass  that  he  sent  Mr.  Cot- 
ton word,  "  that  if  he  had  been  guilty  of  drunkenness  or 
unclcanness,  or  any  such  lesser  fault,  he  could  have  obtained 
his  pardon ;  but  inasmuch  as  he  had  been  guilty  of  noncon- 

,Th«  letter  was  printed  in  London  a  few  days  after.     Neal'l  History  of  New  Eng- 
land, Vol.  I,  p.  147. 

■MufSChuiettl  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  487—489.     [431,  432.] 


[1634.]  WILLIAMS  AT  PLYMOUTH.  43 

fo rarity  and  puritanism,  the  crime  was  unpardonable  ;  and 
therefore,"  said  he,  "you  must  fly  for  your  safety1."  Can 
we  wonder  that  Mr.  Williams,  who  came  over  the  year  after 
the  aforesaid  address  was  made,  should  not  incline  to  join  in 
fellowship  with  the  authors  of  it,  without  some  honest  retrac- 
tion ?  Yet  he  was  not  so  rigid  but  that  he  did  hold  occas- 
ional communion  at  the  Lord's  table  in  the  church  of  Ply- 
mouth, with  Governor  Winthrop,  and  his  minister,  Mr.  Wil- 
son, of  Boston,  October  28,  16322. 

Mr.  Williams  preached  at  Plymouth  between  two  and  three 
years,  and  then  discerning  in  a  leading  part  of  the  church 
a  disagreement  with  some  of  his  sentiments,  and  being  in- 
vited to  Salem,  he  requested  a  dismission  there  ;  and  though 
a  number  were  unwilling  for  it,  yet  elder  Brewster  prevailed 
with  the  church  to  grant  his  request,  fearing,  he  said,  "  that 
he  would  run  the  same  course  of  rigid  separation  and  ana- 
baptistry,  which  Mr.  John  Smith  at  Amsterdam  had  done3. 
Such  as  did  adhere  to  him  were  also  dismissed,  and  removed 
with  him,  or  not  long  after  him  to  Salem4."     The  Court  again 

^lagnalia,  B.  3,  p.  19.     [Vol.  I.  p.  241-1 

2Prince's  Annals,  p.  70.     [406.]  — B. 

See  also,  Winthrop,  Vol.  I,  p.  91 ;  Hubbard,  p.  204.— Ed. 

3Mr.  Smith's  church  separated  from  the  church  of  England  with  Mr.  Robinson's, 
and  removed  a  little  before  him  into  Holland.  After  Mr.  Smith's  death  a  number 
of  his  church  returned  and  promoted  the  Baptist  cause  in  London.  Crosby's  His- 
tory, Vol.  I,  p.  268.— B. 

Mr.  John  Smith  began  his  ministry  in  the  church  of  England.  Early  in  the  reign 
of  James  I,  he  renounced  the  discipline  and  ceremonies  of  that  church  and  escaped 
impending  persecution  by  flight  to  Holland.  Here  he  joined  the  church  of  Brown- 
ists  or  Separatists,  and  soon  became  a  man  of  note  among  them.  Continuing  to 
measure  his  belief  and  practice  by  the  rule  of  Scripture,  he  was  next  compelled  to 
renounce  infant  baptism.  He  was  excluded  by  the  Brownists,  but  his  views  spread 
so  rapidly  that  a  Baptist  church  was  soon  founded  of  which  he  became  the  pastor, 
and  the  other  English  churches  in  Holland  were  largely  leavened  with  Baptist  sen- 
timents. Churchmen  pointed  to  him  as  a  warning  to  all  separatists  and  noncon- 
formists, exemplifying  the  legitimate  end  of  their  heresies  ;  and  the  separatists  them- 
selves wrote  no  less  than  six  distinct  treatises  against  him.  He  was  accused  of 
having  baptized  himself,  a  charge  which  has  since  been  sufficiently  disproved.  See 
Crosby,  Vol.  I,  pp.  90—99,  265—268 ;  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
72,  73;  Cutting's  Historical  Vindications,  pp.  57 — 60.— Ed. 

4Morton,  pp.  86,  87.     [102.] 


4-4  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

wrote  to  Salem  against  Mr.  Williams,  but  could  not  prevent 
his  being  called  to  office  there  ;  and  we  are  told  that,  "  in 
one  year's  time  he  rilled  that  place  with  principles  of  rigid 
separation,  and  tending  to  anabaptism1."  For  this  they  after- 
wards banished  him  ;  though  as  it  was  a  confused  piece  of 
work  for  them  thus  to  deal  with  him,  so  their  historians  have 
given  the  world  a  very  confused  account  about  it.  Morton, 
Hubbard,  Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  and  others,  have  set  his  ban- 
ishment in  1634,  yet  all  agree  that  he  was  not  ordained  till 
after  Mr.  Skelton's  death,  which  was  in  August  that  year, 
and  they  tell  us  of  a  twelvemonth's  labor  with  him  and  his 
church  after  his  ordination,  before  his  banishment ;  neither 
do  they  give  us  a  better  account  of  the  true  causes  of  that 
sentence,  than  they  do  of  the  date  of  it.  I  have  taken  much 
pains  to  collect  as  exact  an  account  of  this  affair  as  possible, 
and  have  succeeded  beyond  my  expectation. 

The  dates  I  find  to  be  as  follows : — Governor  Winthrop 
and  his  Council  first  wrote  to  Salem  against  Mr.  Williams, 
April  12,  16312,  which  occasioned  his  going  to  Plymouth. 
His  first  child  was  born  there  the  first  week  in  August,  16333, 
and  Mr.  Cotton,  who  arrived  at  Boston  the  fourth  of  Septem- 
ber following,  says  he  had  removed  into  the  Bay  colony  be- 
fore his  arrival4.  Mr.  Skelton  died  August  2,  16345,  and  we 
shall  find  proof  enough  that  Mr.  Williams  was  not  banished 
till  above  a  year  afterward ;  so  that  instead  of  such  hasty 
proceedings  at  Salem  as  his  opponents  would  represent,  he 
preached  there  more  than  a  year  before  he  was  ordained,  and 
as  long  after  it. 

As  to  the  causes  of  his  sentence,  Mr.  Morton  has  given  us 
five  articles,  Mr.  Hubbard  six  ;  Mr.  Williams  has  reduced 
them  to  four,  but  Mr.  Cotton  is  not  willing  to  let  them  stand 
as  he  stated  them,  but  tells  us : — 

'Morton,  [103.]  Hubbard,  [204.]  3Providence  Records. 

•Prince,  p.  26.     [861.]  4Tene1  washed,  Part  2d,  p.  4. 

•Magnolia,  B.  3,  p.  7G.     [Vol.  I,  p.  331.] 


[1634.]  CAUSES  OF  WILLIAMS'S  BANISHMENT.  45 

Two  things  there  were,  which  (to  my  best  observation  and  remembrance) 
caused  the  sentence  of  his  banishment ;  and  two  others  fell  in  that  hastened  it. 

1.  His  violent  and  tumultuous  carriage  against  the  patent. 

By  the  patent  it  is,  that  we  received  allowance  from  the  king  to  depart 
his  kingdom,  and  to  carry  our  goods  with  us,  without  offence  to  his  officers, < 
and  without  paying  custom  to  himself.  By  the  patent,  certain  select  men, 
as  magistrates  and  freemen,  have  power  to  make  laws,  and  the  magistrates 
to  execute  justice  and  judgment  amongst  the  people,  according  to  such  laws. 
By  the  patent  we  have  power  to  erect  such  a  government  of  the  church1,  as 
is  most  agreeable  to  the  Word,  to  the  estate  of  the  people,  and  to  the  gain- 
ing of  natives,  in  God's  time,  first  to  civility,  and  then  to  Christianity. 

This  patent  Mr.  Williams  publicly  and  vehemently  preached  against,  as 
containing  matter  of  falsehood,  aud  injustice  :  falsehood,  in  making  the 
king  the  first  Christian  prince  who  had  discovered  these  parts  ;  and  injus- 
tice, in  giving  the  country  to  his  English  subjects  which  belonged  to  the 
native  Indians2. 

Let  it  be  here  noted,  that  we  have  no  proof  that  Mr.  Wil- 
liams ever  preached  or  objected  against  the  whole  patent,  or 
charter,  without  distinction,  much  less  against  that  part  of 
it  which  constituted  them  a  civil  government.  His  own  ac- 
count of  this  matter  informs  us,  that  the  sin  of  the  patents 
which  lay  so  heavy  on  his  mind  was,  that  therein  ;;  Christian 
kings  (so  called)  are  invested  with  a  right,  by  virtue  of  their 
Christianity,  to  take  and  give  away  the  lands  and  countries 
of  other  men."  And  he  tells  us  that  this  evil  so  deeply  af- 
flicted his  soul,  that,  "  before  his  troubles  and  banishment, 
he  drew  up  a  letter,  not  without  the  approbation  of  some  of 
the  chief  of  Xew  England,  then  tender  also  upon  this  point 
before  God,  directed  unto  the  king  himself,  humbly  acknowl- 
edging the  evil  of  that  part  of  the  patent  which  respects  the 
donation  of  lands,  &c3. 

What  grounds  Mr.  Williams  and  others  had  for  this  con- 
cern will  plainly  appear  by  what  follows  ;  for  in  the  said 
patent  from  Charles  the  First,  he  recites  that  which  was 
given  by  his  father,  King  James  the  First,  dated  November 
3,  1620,  wherein  he 

xThis  clause  is  not  truth.  2Tenet  washed,  p.  27. 

3Reply  to  Cotton  on  the  Bloody  Tenet,  pp.  276,  277. 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Gave  and  granted  unto  the  Council  established  at  Plymouth,  in  the 
county  of  Devon,  ....  all  that  part  of  America  lying  and  being  in 
breadth  from  forty  degrees  of  northerly  latitude  from  the  equinoctial  line  to 
forty-eight  degrees  of  the  said  northerly  latitude  inclusively,  and  in  length 
of  and  within  all  the  breadth  aforesaid  throughout  the  main  land  from  sea 
to  sea,  together  also  with  all  the  firm  lands,  soils,  grounds,  havens,  ports, 
rivers,  waters,  fishiug,  mines  and  minerals,  ....  jurisdictions,  privileges, 
franchises,  and  pre-eminences,  both  within  the  said  tract  of  land  upon  the 
main,  and  also  within  the  islands  and  seas  adjoining;  provided  always, 
that  the  said  islands,  or  any  of  the  premises  by  the  said  letters  patent  in- 
tended and  meant  to  be  granted,  were  not  then  actually  possessed  or  inhab- 
ited  by  any  other  Christian  prince  or  state To  have   and  to  hold, 

possess  and  enjoy,  all  and  singular  the  aforesaid  continent  lands,  ....  and 
every  part  and  parcel  thereof,  unto  the  said  Council,  and  their  heirs  and 

assigns  forever To  be  holden  of  our  said  most  dear  and  royal  father, 

his  heirs  and  successors,  as  of  his  manor  of  East  Greenwich  in  the  county 
of  Kent. 

Then  King  Charles  went  on  to  name  the  Massachusetts 
Company,  and  to  describe  the  limits  of  their  colony  through 
the  main  lands  of  America,  and  granted  it  to  them  in  the 
same  manner,  "to  be  holden  of  us,  our  heirs  and  successors, 
as  of  our  manor  of  East  Greenwich1,"  &c. 

Can  any  man  claim  a  fuller  property  in  any  land  in  the 
world,  than  here  was  assumed  over  this  vast  tract  of  America? 
And  though  the  men  who  had  taken  this  patent  banished  Mr. 
Williams  out  of  it,  yet  before  we  have  done  we  may  see  this 
very  principle  which  he  abhorred  turned  back  into  their  own 
bosoms,  and  made  use  of  by  a  tyrannical  party  to  give  them 
a  severe  scourging,  after  their  patent  was  vacated. 

The  other  foundation  cause  of  Mr.  Williams's  banishment 
Mr.  Cotton  gives  in  these  words : — 

2.  The  magistrates,  and  other  members  of  the  General  Court,  upou  in- 
telligence of  some  Episcopal  and  malignant  practices  against  the  country, 
made  au  order  of  Court  to  take  trial  of  the  fidelity  of  the  people,  not  by 
imposing  upon  them,  but  by  offering  to  them  au  oath  of  fidelity  ;  that  in 
case,  any  should  refuse  to  take  it,  they  might  not  bctrust  them  with  place 
of  public  charge  and  command.     This  oath  when  it  came  abroad  he  vehe- 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  3.  pp.  1 — 4. 


[1634.]  CAUSES  OF  WILLIAMS'S  BANISHMENT.  47 

mently  withstood,  and  dissuaded  sundry  from  it,  partly  because  it  was,  as 
he  said,  Christ's  prerogative  to  have  his  office  established  by  oath  ;  partly 
because  an  oath  was  part  of  God's  worship,  and  God's  worship  was  not  to 
be  put  upon  carnal  persons,  as  he  conceived  many  of  the  people  to  be.  So 
the  Court  was  forced  to  desist  from  that  proceeding1. 

This  case  thus  stated  carries  a  sad  face  with  it,  but  one  ac- 
quainted with  the  history  of  the  country  would  be  ready  to 
doubt  whether  it  was  truly  stated  or  not ;  for  every  freeman 
had  taken  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  government  before  that 
time,  and  if  there  was  no  intent  of  imposing  but  only  of  offer- 
ing this  new  oath,  could  they  not  find  men  enough  for  officers 
that  would  take  it]  Indeed  when  I  come  to  find  how  the 
truth  of  this  matter  was,  by  the  colony  records,  and  to  think 
that  Mr.  Cotton  had  them  at  his  door  when  he  wrote,  I  am 
the  most  shocked  about  him  by  this  publication  of  his  against 
Mr.  Williams,  of  anything  I  ever  met  with  concerning  him. 
Upon  the  colony  records,  when  the  General  Assembly  met  at 
Boston,  May  14,  1634.  I  find  these  words: — 

It  was  agreed  and  ordered,  that  the  former  oath  of  freemen  shall  be  re- 
voked, so  far  as  it  is  dissonant  from  the  oath  of  freemen  here  underwritten, 
and  that  those  that  received  the  former  oath  shall  stand  bound  no  further 
thereby  to  any  intent  or  purpose  than  this  new  oath  ties  those  that  take  the 
same. 

The  Oath  of  a  Freeman. 

I,  A.  B.,  being  by  God's  providence -an  inhabitant  and  freeman  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  this  commonweal,  do  freely  acknowledge  myself  to  be 
subject  to  the  government  thereof,  and  therefore  do  here  swear,  by  the 
great  and  dreadful  name  of  the  ever  living  God,  that  I  will  be  true  and 
faithful  to  the  same,  and  will  accordingly  yield  assistance  and  support 
thereunto  with  my  person  and  estate  as  in  equity  I  am  bound,  and  I  will 
also  truly  endeavor  to  maintain  and  preserve  all  the  liberties  and  privileges 
thereof,  submitting  myself  to  the  wholesome  laws  and  orders  made  and  es- 
tablished by  the  same.  And  further,  that  I  will  not  plot  nor  practise  any 
evil  against  it,  nor  consent  to  any  that  shall  so  do,  but  will  truly  discover 
and  reveal  the  same  to  lawful  authority  now  here  established,  for  the  speedy 
preventing   thereof.     Moreover  I  do  solemnly  bind  myself  in  the  sight  of 

^enet  washed,  pp.  28,  29. 


48  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

God,  that  when  I  shall  be  called  to  give  my  voice,  touching  any  such  mat- 
ter of  this  state,  wherein  freemen  are  to  deal,  I  will  give  my  vote  and  suf- 
frage, as  I  shall  judge  in  mine  own  conscience  may  best  conduce  and  tend 
to  the  public  weal  of  the  body,  without  respect  of  persons  or  favor  of  any 
man  ;  so  help  me  God  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

This  oath  was  framed  and  taken  before  they  proceeded  to 
election  at  the  time  above  said.  When  the  Assembly  met 
again  at  Newtown,  now  Cambridge,  March  4,  1635,  they  en- 
acted as  follows : — 

It  is  ordered  that  every  man  of  or  above  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  who 
hath  been  or  shall  hereafter  be  resident  within  this  jurisdiction,  by  the 
space  of  six  months  (as  well  servants  as  others)  and  not  enfranchised,  shall 
take  the  oath  of  residents,  before  the  Governor,  Deputy  Governor,  or  two 
of  the  next  Assistants,  who  shall  have  power  to  convent  him  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  upon  his  refusal,  to  biud  him  over  to  the  next  Court  of  Assist- 
ants, and  upon  his  refusal  the  second  time,  to  be  punished  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Court. 

It  is  ordered,  that  the  freeman's  oath  shall  be  given  to  every  man  of  or 
above  the  age  of  sixteen  years,  the  clause  for  election  of  magistrates  only 
excepted1. 

Now  let  the  candid  reader  judge, 

1.  Who  was  the  best  friend  to  charter-rights?  The 
Massachusetts  Company  were  limited,  in  three  different 
passages  of  their  patent,  not  to  make  any  laws  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  England  ;  yet  one  professed  design  of  this  new 
oath,  was  to  guard  against  Episcopal  practices,  to  effect 
which  they  left  out  the  clause  in  their  former  oath,  which 
bound  them  to  submit  to  "  all  such  laws,  orders,  sentences 
and  decrees,  as  should  be  lawfully  made  and  published  by 
them  ;"  and  instead  of  it  obliged  men  to  swear  to  submit 
"to  the  wholesome  laws  and  orders  made  and  established  " 
by  the  government  of  this  commonwealth.  And  though 
Mr.  Cotton  asserts  that  they  did  not  impose  but  only  offer 
this  new  oath,  yet  the  colony  records  are  express,  that  every 
man  who  resided  within  their  jurisdiction  six   months,  scr- 

^lassachusetts  Records. 


[1634.]  CAUSES   OF    WILLIAMS'S   BANISHMENT.  49 

vants  as  well  as  others,  must  swear  to  obey  all  their  whole- 
some laws  and  orders,  or  be  punished  at  their  discretion ; 
yea,  and  also  swear  to  reveal  any  plot  that  they  should  know 
of  against  such  government,  "  to  lawful  authority  now  here 
established:"  —  that  is,  not  to  complain  to  any  but  them- 
selves. 

2.  From  whence  came  the  power  that  presumed  to  absolve 
themselves  and  others  from  their  oath,  to  keep  to  acts  law- 
fully made,  and  to  substitute  the  word  wholesome  in  the 
room  of  it  \  Let  the  learned  Cotton  Mather  answer  the 
question.     Says  he, — 

The  reforming  churches,  flying  from  Rome,  carried  some  of  them 
more,  some  of  them  less,  all  of  them  something,  of  Rome  with  them  ; 
especially  in  that  spirit  of  imposition  and  persecution,  which  has  too  much 
cleaved  unto  them  all1. 

That  spirit  of  imposition  and  persecution  ran  so  high  in 
England  at  the  time  we  are  upon,  that  King  Charles  the 
First  gave  a  commission,  April  28,  1634,  to  Archbishop 
Laud,  and  ten  courtiers  more2,  some  of  them  known  paptists, 
as  follows  : — 

We  do  constitute  you,  our  said  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  &c,  or  any 
five  or  more  of  you,  our  counsellors  ;  and  to  you  or  to  any  five  or  more  of 
you,  do  commit  and  give  power  of  protection  and  government,  as  well 
over  the  English  colonies  already  planted,  as  over  all  such  other  colonies, 
which  by  any  of  our  people  of  England  hereafter  shall  be  deduced  into 
any  other  like  parts  whatsoever,  and  power  to  make  laws,  ordinances  and 
constitutions,  concerning  either  the  state  public  of  the  said  colonies,  or 
utility  of  private  persons  and  their  lands,  goods,  debts  and  succession, 
within  the  precincts  of  the  same,  and  for  ordering  and  directing  of  them, 
in  their  demeanors  towards  foreign  princes  and  their  people,  and  likewise 
towards  us  and  our  subjects,  as  well  within  any  foreign  parts  whatsoever 
beyond   the    seas,   as    during   their    voyages,    or   upon   the    seas  to  and 

^is  son  Dr.  Samuel  Mather's  Apology  for  the  churches  of  New  England,  Ap- 
pendix, p.  149. 

2Lord  Coventry,  the   Archbishop  of  York,  the  Earls  of  Portland,   Manchester, 
Arundel,  and  Dorset,  Lord  Cottington,  Sir  Thomas  Edmunds,  and  the  Secretaries 
Cook  and  Windebank. 
4 


50  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

from  the  same ;  and  for  relief  and  support  of  the  clergy,  and  the 
rule  and  cure  of  the  souls  of  our  people  living  in  those  parts,  and 
for  consigning  of  convenient  maintenance  unto  them  by  tithes,  obla- 
tions and  other  profits  accruing,  according  to  your  good  discretion,  with 
the  advice  of  two  or  three  of  our  bishops,  whom  you  shall  think  fit  to  call 
unto  your  consultations,  touching  the  distribution  of  such  maintenance 
unto  the  clergy,  and  all  other  matters  ecclesiastical,  and  to  iuflict  punish- 
ment on  all  offenders  or  violators  of  constitutions  and  ordinances,  either  by 
imprisonments  or  other  restraints,  or  by  loss  of  life  or  members,  according 
as  the  quality  of  the  offence  shall  require;  with  power  also,  our  royal 
assent  being  first  had  and  obtained,  to  remove  all  Governors  and  Presi- 
dents of  the  said  colonies,  upon  just  cause  appearing,  from  their  several 
places,  and  to  appoint  others  in  their  stead  :  .  .  .  .  and  power  also  to 
ordain  temporal  judges  and  civil  magistrates  to  determine  of  civil  causes, 
with  such  powers,  in  such  a  form,  as  to  you  or  any  five  or  more  of  you 
shall  seem  expedient ;  and  also  to  ordain  judges,  magistrates  and  officers 
for  and  concerning  courts  ecclesiastical,  with  such  power  and  such  a  form, 
as  to  you  or  any  five  or  more  of  you,  with  the  advice  of  the  bishops  suf- 
fragan to  the    Archbishop   of  Canterbury  for  the  time  being,  shall  be  held 

meet Giving,  moreover,  and  granting  to  you,  that  if  it  shall  appear, 

that  any  officer  or  Governor  of  the  said  colonies  shall  unjustly  wrong 
one  another,  or  shall  not  suppress  all  rebels  to  us,  or  such  as  shall  not  obey 
our  commands,  that  then  it  shall  be  lawful,  upon  advice  with  ourself  first 
had,  for  the  causes  aforesaid,  or  upon  any  other  just  reason,  to  remand  and 
cause  the  offender  to  return  into  England,  or  into  any  other  place,  accord- 
ing as  in  your  good  discretions  you  shall  think  just  and  necessary.  And 
we  do  furthermore  give  unto  you,  or  any  five  or  more  of  you,  letters 
patent  and  other  writings  whatsoever,  of  us  or  of  our  royal  predecessors 
granted,  for  or  concerning  the  planting  of  any  colonies,  in  any  countries, 
provinces,  islands  or  territories  whatsoever  beyond  the  seas  ;  and  if  upon 
view  thereof,  the  same  shall  appear  to  you,  or  any  five  or  more  of  you,  to 
have  been  surreptitiously  and  unduly  obtained,  or  that  any  privileges  or 
Liberties  therein  granted  be  hurtful  to  us,  our  crcwn  or  prerogative  royal, 
or  to  any  foreign  princes,  to  cause  the  same  to  be  revoked,  and  to  do  all 
other  things,  which  shall  be  necessary  for  the  wholesome  government  and 
protection  of  the  said  colonies,  and  our  people  therein  abiding1. 

Thus  the  words  "fer^Wand  "  wholesome'  were  brought 
in  to  violate  charters  and  all  public  faith,  and  to  set  up 
tyranny  over  the  colonics.    But  Mr.  Edward  Winslow  being 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I.  pp.  502— 50G.  [440—443.] 


[1635.]  CAUSES  OF  WILLIAMS'S  BANISHMENT.  51 

sent  over  agent  for  the  country,  by  his  indefatigable 
endeavors,  and  the  influence  of  some  great  men,  prevented 
the  taking  place  of  this  arbitrary  commission ;  upon  which 
Laud  turned  his  resentment  against  him,  and  got  him  im- 
prisoned seventeen  weeks  in  the  Fleet  prison,  in  London, 
for  having  sometimes  taught  publicly  in  the  church  of  Ply- 
mouth, and  for  marrying  people,  which  Laud  called  "assum- 
ing the  Ministerial  office1." 

Had  the  Massachusetts  fathers  taken  only  lawful  and 
prudent  methods  to  guard  against  such  Episcopal  and 
malignant  practices  as  these,  they  would  have  been  justified, 
and  applauded  by  posterity ;  but  now  we  mourn  to  think 
that  they  brought  so  much  of  the  same  distemper  into  this 
country  with  them  as  they  did. 

The  same  Court  that  passed  the  act  to  oblige  all  to  take 
the  above  oath,  or  be  punished  at  their  discretion,  also 
passed  the  following,  viz.  : — 

This  Court  doth  entreat  of  the  brethren  and  elders  of  every  church  within 
this  jurisdiction,  that  they  will  consult  and  advise  of  one  uniform  order  of 
discipline  in  the  churches,  agreeable  to  the  Scriptures,  and  then  to  consider 
how  far  the  magistrates  are  bound  to  interpose  for  the  preservation  of  that 
uniformity  and  peace  of  the  churches2. 

Upon  this  Mr.  Williams  publicly  preached  against  the 
oath  they  had  framed,  of  submission  to  such  a  power  ;  for 
which  the  Governor  and  Assistants  called  him  before  them, 
March  30,  1635,  when  "  he  was  heard  before  all  the  minis- 
ters, and,"  according  to  Governor  Winthrop's  opinion,  was 
"  clearly  refuted3."  The  two  things  which  Mr.  Cotton  says 
hastened  his  banishment  were,  Mr.  Williams's  stirring  up  his 
church  to  write  to  other  churches  to  which  those  rulers 
belonged,  admonishing  them  of  injustice  about  some  land 
near  Salem;  and  his  separating  from  his  own  church  when 

Plymouth  Register,  pp.  12 — 14.  Massachusetts  Records. 

3Winthrop's  Journal.  [Vol.  I,  p.  158.] 


52  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

they  turned  against  him  in  these  things1.  Concerning  the 
first  of  these  articles  Governor  Winthrop  says. — 

"  Salem  men  preferred  a  petition  at  the  General  Court,  May,  1635,  for 
some  land  in  Marblehead  neck,  which  they  did  challenge  as  belonging  to 
their  town  ;  but  because  they  had  chosen  Mr.  Williams  thi'ir  teacher  while 
he  stood  under  question  of  authority,  and  so  offered  contempt  to  the  mag- 
istracy, &c.  their  petition  was  refused  till,  &c.  Upon  this  the  church  of 
Salem  wrote  to  other  churches  to  admonish  the  magistrates  of  this  as  a 
heinous  sin,  and  likewise  the  deputies,  &c.2 

By  the  colony  records  I  find  that  the  town  of  Marble- 
head  was  first  granted  by  the  Assembly  which  met  May  6, 
1635,  when  sundry  parcels  of  land  which  Salem  had 
improved  were  granted  to  them  as  soon  as  they  should  want 
them,  only  with  order  that  Marblehead  should  pay  Salem 
for  what  they  had  done  upon  the  land ;  among  the  rest.  "  the 
land  betwixt  the  clift  and  the  forest  river,  near  Marblehead" 
was  so  granted,  but  with  this  proviso,  "  that  if  in  the  mean- 
time the  inhabitants  of  Salem  can  satisfy  the  Court  that 
they  have  true  right  unto  it.  that  then  it  shall  belong  unto  the 
inhabitants  thereof." 

The  generality  of  those  inhabitants  turned  the  next  fall, 
and  joined  with  the  rulers  in  banishing  Mr.  Williams,  and 
when  the  General  Assembly  met  again,  March  3, 1636, 1  find 
these  words,  viz. :  "  It  was  proved  this  Court  that  Marble 
Neck  belongs  to  Salem3."     Now  what  can  be  more  natural 

'Tenet  washed,  pp.  29,  30.  MVinthrop's  Journal.  [Vol  I.  p.  164.] 

'Massachusetts  Records. 

There  are  indications  that  Salem  was  nothribed  into  acquiescence  with  Williams'! 
banishment  as  easily  ai  these  words  might  suggest.     Neal  writes,   "Sentence  of 

banishment  being  read  against  Mr.  Williams,  the  whole  town  of  Salem  was  in  an 
uproar;  for  he  was  esteemed  an  honest,  disinterested  man  and  of  popular  talents  in 
the  pulpit;  and  BUCh  was  the  compassion  of  the  people,  occasioned  by  his  followers 
raising  a  cry  of  persecution  against  him,  that  he  would  have  carried  off  the  greater 

part  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  if  the  ministers  of  Boston  had  not  inter- 
posed by  sending  an  admonition  to  the  church  of  Salem,  with  a  confutation  in 
writing  of  Mr.  Williams's  errors,  showing  their  tendency  to  disturb  the  public 
peace  both  in  church  and  State,  though  he  always  opposed  what  he  called  the 
Moody  Tenet,  that  is,  every  kind  and  degree  of  persecution  for  conscience  sake; 
but  by  this  means  the  greater  part  of  the  people  were  satisfied,  or  content  at  least 
to  abandon  their  dear  Mr.  Williams,  to  whose  opinions  and  doctrine  they  were  but 
too  much  devoted."     Real's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  1,  pp.  159,  lot).      Ed. 


[1635.]  CAUSES   OF  WILLIAMS'S  BANISHMENT.  53 

than  to  conclude  from  hence  that  the  way  for  Salem  to  satisfy 
the  Court  that  they  had  a  true  right  to  their  land,  was  to 
submit  their  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  affairs  to  their 
direction  ? 

At  a  General  Court,  July  8,  1635, — 

Mr.  Williams,  of  Salem,  was  summoned,  and  did  appear.  It  was  laid 
to  his  charge,  that  being  under  question  before  the  magistracy  and  churches 
for  divers  dangerous  opiuions,  viz.  :  1.  That  the  magistrate  ought  not  to 
punish  the  breach  of  the  first  table,  otherwise  than  in  such  case  as  did  dis- 
turb the  civil  peace.  2.  That  he  ought  not  to  tender  an  oath  to  an  unre- 
generate  man.  3.  That  a  man  ought  not  to  pray  with  such,  though 
wife,  children,  &c.  4.  That  a  man  ought  not  to  give  thanks  after  sacra- 
ment, nor  after  meals  [meat]  ;  and  that  the  other  churches  were  about  to 
write  to  the  church  of  Salem  to  admonish  him  of  these  errors,  understand- 
ing [notwithstanding]  the  church  had  called  him  to  the  office  of  a  teacher. 
The  said  opinions  were  adjudged  by  all  the  magistracy  and  ministers  (who 
were  desired  to  be  present)  to  be  erroneous,  and  very  dangerous,  and  the 
calling  of  him  to  office  at  that  time  was  judged  a  great  contempt  of 
authority.  So  in  fine  there  was  given  to  him  and  the  church  of  Salem  to 
cousider  of  these  things  till  the  next  General  Court,  and  then  either  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  Court,  or  else  to  expect  the  sentence  ;  it  being  pro- 
fessedly declared  by  the  ministers  (at  the  request  of  the  Court  to  give  their 
advice)  that  they  who  should  obstinately  maintain  such  opinions  (whereby 
the  church  might  come  [run]  into  heresy,  apostacy  or  tyranny,  and  yet  the 
civil  magistrate  could  not  intermeddle)  were  to  be  removed,  and  that  the 
other  churches  ought  to  request  the  magistrate  so  to  do1. 

This  is  the  most  plain  and  ingenuous  account  of  the  real 
cause  of  Mr.  Williams's  banishment  that  I  have  ever  met 
with,  from  any  who  were  opposed  to  him  and  carries  the 
more  weight  with  it,  as  it  was  written  by  one  of  the  greatest 
gentlemen  in  the  country,  in  the  time  of  it,  and  who  was  per- 
sonally concerned  in  these  transactions.  And  by  the  first  and 
last  of  this  account  it  is  evident,  that  the  grand  difficulty 
they  had  with  Mr.  Williams  was,  his  denying  the  civil  mag- 
nate's right  to  govern  in  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

This  honorable  writer  informs  us,  that  on  August  15, 
1635, 

Governor  Winthrop's  Journal,  Vol.  I,  pp.  [162.  163.] 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS 'IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Mr.  Williams,  pastor  of  Salem,  being  sick,  and  not  able  to  speak,  wrote 
to  his  church  a  protestation  that  he  could  not  communicate  with  the 
churches  in  the  Bay,  neither  would  he  communicate  with  them,  except 
they  would  refuse  communion  with  the  rest :  but  the  whole  church  was 
grieved  thereby. 

September  1. — At  this  General  Court,  Mr.  Endicott  made  a  protesta- 
tion, in  justification  of  the  letters  formerly  sent  from  Salem  to  the  other 
churches  against  the  magistracy  and  deputies,  for  which  he  was  committed  ; 
but  the  same  day  he  came  and  acknowledged  his  fault,  and  was  dis- 
charged1. 

October. — At  this  General  Court  Mr.  Williams,  the  teacher  of  Salem, 
was  again  convented,  and  all  the  ministers  in  the  Bay  being  desired  to  be 
present,  he  was  charged  with  his  said  two  letters,  that  to  the  churches, 
complaining  of  the  magistrates  for  injustice,  &c.  and  the  other  to  his  own 

church He  justified    both  these  letters,    and    maintained   all  his 

opinions  ;  and  being  offered  further  conference  or  disputation,  and  another 
respite,  he  chose  to  dispute  presently,  so  Mr.  Hooker  was  appointed  to  dis- 
pute with  him,  but  could  not  reduce  him  from  any  of  his  errors,  so  the 
next  morning  the  court  sentenced  him  to  depart  out  of  our  jurisdiction, 
within  six  weeks,  all  the  ministers  approving  the  sentence  ;  and  his  own 
church  had  him  under  question  also  for  the  same  case,  and  he  at  his 
return  home  refused  communion  with  his  own  church,  who  openly  dis- 
claimed his  errors,  and  wrote  an  humble  submission  to  the  magistrates, 
acknowledging  their  fault  in  joining  with  Mr.  Williams  in  that  letter  to  the 
churches  against  them2. 

^inthrop's  Journal.  [Vol.  I,  p.  1GG.]  Mr.  Endicott  afterwards  acted  at  the 
head  of  the  most  bloody  persecutions  in  this  country. — B. 

The  above  sentence  refers  to  the  proceedings  against  Quakers,  which  culminated 
in  the  hanging  of  four  persons  of  that  sect  in  1(559.     See  Chap.  v. — Ed. 

2Winthrop's  Journal,  [Vol.  I,  pp.  170,  171.]  The  next  time  the  Court  met  they  con- 
firmed their  land  to  them,  as  before  observed.  The  province  records  agree  with 
this  account,  only  they  do  not  set  any  date  after  the  Court  met  in  September,  hefore 
Mr.  Williams's  sentence ;  hut  it  might  he  October  before  it  was  passed. — B. 

The  exact  date  of  Roger  Williams's  banishment  is  still  undetermined.  Knowles 
writes  in  his  Memoir  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  73,  note,  "Winthrop  places  the  banish- 
ment under  date  of  October,  but  the  Colonial  Records,  (I.  1G3,)  state  that  it  took 
place  November  8,  1G35."  Elton,  Life  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  82,  gives  the  same 
date,  doubtless  taking  it  from  Knowles.  It  were  well  if  the  matter  could  be  thus 
easily  settled;  hut  the  dates  of  the  Colonial  Records  on  this  point  are  most  uncer- 
tain. The  Records  give  account  of  three  sessions  of  the  Court,  dating  them  res- 
pectively September  1,  November  3,  and  September  2.  In  the  last  of  these,  after  a 
few  items  of  business,  there  is  the  date  September  3,  in  the  margin;  and  alter  many 
other  items,  comes  the  sentence  of  Roger  Williams.  Mr.  Knowles  seems  to  have 
regarded  the  two  hist  named  sessions  as  belonging  to  the  date  November  3,  either 
overlooking  the  dates  September  2  and  September  3,  or  rejecting  them  as  spurious. 


[1636.]  DATE  OF  WILLIAMS'S  BANISHMENT.  55 

■  John  Smith  was  banished  at  the  same  time  with  Mr. 
Williams,  for  his  dangerous  opinions,  but  we  are  not  told 
what  they  were.  It  seems  that  the  Court  after  this  gave 
Mr.  Williams  liberty  to  stay  till  Spring,  only  enjoining  it 
upon  him  not  to  go  about  to  draw  others  to  his  opinions  ; 
but  in  January,  1636,  the  Governor  and  Assistants  were 
informed,  that  he  received  and  preached  to  companies  in  his 
house,  "  even  of  such  points  as  he  had  been  censured  for." 
Upon  which  they  agreed  to  send  him  into  England  by  a  ship 
then  ready  to  depart.  "  The  reason  was,  because  he  had 
drawn  about  twenty  people  to  his  opinions,  who  intended  to 
erect  a  plantation  about  the  Narragansett  Bay,  from  whence 
infection  would  easily  spread  into  these  churches,  the  peo- 
ple being  many  of  them  much  taken  with  the  apprehension 
of  his  godliness."  They  sent  for  him  to  come  to  Boston, 
but  he  sent  an  excuse  ;  upon  which  they  sent  a  pinnace, 
with  a  commission  to  Captain  Underhill,  to  apprehend  him 
and  carry  him  on  board  the  ship  then  at  Nantasket ;  but 
when  they  "came  to  his  house,  they  found  he  had  been  gone 
three  days1." 

This  I  believe  is  the  exact  date  of  his  departure,  instead 
of  being  in  1634,  as  their  historians  have  represented.  Six- 
teen years  after,  Mr.  Williams,  referring  to  words  of  Mr. 
Cotton,  says, — 

"  These  passages  occasion  me  to  remember  a  serious  question  which 
many  fearing  God  have  made,  to  wit,  whether  the  promise  of  God's  Spirit 
blessing  conferences,  be  so  comfortably  to   be  expected   in   New  England 

That  there  is  an  error  is  evident,  but  it  cannot  be  remedied  by  rejecting  entirely  the 
dates  last  named,  for  that  would  assign  to  November  3  much  more  business  than 
could  possibly  be  transacted  in  one  day.  Probably  no  better  explanation  can  be 
given  than  that  of  Backus.  By  that,  we  must  regard  the  record  dated  November  3  as 
out  of  place,  inscribed  where  it  is  by  mistake  ;  and  must  suppose  that  the  business 
under  date  of  September  3  really  occupied  the  Court  till  October.  Unless  the 
Court  was  more  diligent  than  similar  bodies  in  later  times,  a  full  month's  work  is 
recorded  there.  Thus  the  Colonial  Records  will  be  made  to  harmonize  with  Win- 
throp's  Journal  which  is  almost  invariably  accurate,  and  the  probable  date  of 
Williams's  banishment  remains  as  Backus  gives  it,  October,  1635. — Ed. 
^Vinthrop's  Journal.  [Vol.  I,  pp.  175,  176.] 


56  HISTOKY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

because  of  those  many  public  sins  which  most  of  God's  people  in  New 
England  lie  under,  and  one  especially,  to  wit,  the  framing  a  Gospel  or 
Christ  to  themselves  without  a  cross,  not  professing  nor  practicing  that  in 
Old,  which  they  professedly  came  over  to  enjoy  with  peace  and  liberty  from 
any  cross  of  Christ  in  New.  I  know  those  thoughts  have  deeply  possessed 
not  a  few,  considering  also  the  sin  of  the  patents,  wherein  Christian  kings, 
so  called,  are  invested  with  right,  by  virtue  of  their  Christianity,  to  take 
and  give  away  the  lands  and  countries  of  other  men  ;  as  also  considering 
the  unchristian  oaths  swallowed  down,  at  their  coming  forth  from  Old 
England,  especially  in  superstitious  Laud  his  time  and  domineering1." 

It  is  evident  by  the  foregoing  list  of  errors  charged 
upon  Mr.  Williams,  that  the  Massachusetts  ministers  and 
rulers  meant  to  carry  their  uniformity  so  far,  as  to  oblige 
ministers  and  Christians,  throughout  their  jurisdiction,  not 
only  to  ask  a  blessing  at  the  Lord's  cable  and  at  common 
meals,  but  also  to  return  thanks  afterward  ;  and  it  is  likely 
that  this  straining  of  that  matter  beyond  Scriptural  example, 
has  had  not  a  little  influence  upon  many  since  to  carry  them 
to  the  other  extreme.  Be  that  as  it  may,  what  human  heart 
can  be  unaffected  with  the  thought  that  a  people  who  had 
been  sorely  persecuted  in  their  own  country,  so  as  to  flee 
three  thousand  miles  into  a  wilderness  for  religious  liberty, 
yet  should  have  that  imposing  temper  cleaving  so  fast  to 
them,  as  not  to  be  willing  to  let  a  godly  minister,  who  testi- 
fied against  it,  stay  even  in  any  neighboring  part  of  this 
wilderness,  but  it  moved  them  to  attempt  to  take  him  by 
force,  to  send  him  back  into  the  land  of  their  persecutors ! 
To  avoid  this  he  fled  to  the  heathen  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
and  obtained  such  favor  in  their  sight,  that  Osamaquin 
(otherwise  called  Massasoit)  chief  sachem  at  Mount  Hope, 
made  him  a  grant  of  part  of  that  which  is  since  called 
Eehoboth  ;  yet  the  place  was  so  far  then  from  answering  to 
its  present  name,  that  a  letter  and  messenger  was  sent  from 
Plymouth  to  let  him  know  there  was  not  room  for  him  in 

'Reply  to  Cotton,  p.  27G.      Note,  it  was  not  all   oaths,  but  those  only  which  he 
esteemed  unchristian  ones  that  he  objected  against. 


[1636.1  SETTLEMENT  OF  PROVIDENCE.  57 

that  place,  because  within  their  patent.  s:  This  is  a  lamenta- 
tion, and  shall  be  for  a  lamentation." 

Mr.  Williams's  own  testimony,  upon  a  particular  occasion 
at  Providence,  twenty-five  years  after,  I  think  deserves  notice 
here.     Says  he  : — 

I  testify  aDd  declare  in  the  holy  presence  of  God,  that  when  at  my  first 
coming  into  these  parts  I  obtained  the  lands  of  Secunk  of  Osamaqnin, 
the  then  chief  sachem  on  that  side,  the  Governor  of  Plymouth,  Mr. 
Winslow,  wrote  to  me,  in  the  name  of  their  government,  their  claim  of 
Secunk  to  be  in  their  jurisdiction,  as  also  their  advice  to  remove  but  over 
the  river  unto  this  side,  where  now  by  God's  merciful  providence  we  are, 
and  then  I  should  be  out  of  their  claim,  and  be  as  free  as  themselves,  and 
loving  neighbors  together1.  After  I  had  obtained  this  place,  now  called 
Providence,  of  Canonicus  and  Myantinomy,  the  chief  Xanhigganset 
sachems  deceased,  Osamaquin  (the  sachem  aforesaid,  also  deceased)  laid 
his  claim  to  this  place  also.  This  forced  me  to  repair  to  the  Xanhiggan- 
set  sachems  aforesaid,  who  declared,  that  Osamaquin  was  their  subject, 
and  had  solemnly,  himself  in  person,  with  ten  men,  subjected  himself  and 
his  lands  unto  them  at  the  Xanhigganset,  and  now  he  seemed  to  revolt 
from  his  loyalty,  under  the  shelter  of  the  English  at  Plymouth2.  This  I 
declared  from  the  Xanhigganset  sachems  to  Osamaquin,  who  without  any 
stick  acknowledged  to  be  true,  that  he  had  so  subjected  as  the  Xanhiggan- 
set  sachems  had  affirmed  ;  but  withal  he  affirmed  that  he  was  not  subdued 
by  war,  which  himself  and  his  father  had  maintained  against  the  Xanhig- 
gansets  ;  but  God,  said  he,  subdued  us  by  a  plague,  which  swept  away  my 
people,  and  forced  me  to  yield.  This  conviction  and  confession  of  his, 
together  with  gratuities  to  himself,  brethren  and  followers,  made  him  often 
profess,  that  he  was  pleased  that  I  should  here  be  his  neighbor,  and  the 
rather  because  he  and  I  had  been  great  friends  at  Plymouth  ;  and  also 
because  his  and  my  friends  at  Plymouth  advised  him  to  be  at  peace  and 
friendship  with  me  ;  and  he  hoped  that  our  children  after  us  would  be 
good  friends  together.  And  whereas  there  hath  been  often  speech  of 
Providence  falling  in  Plymouth  jurisdiction  by  virtue  of  Osamaquin's 
claim ;  I   add    unto    the  testimonies   abovesaid,  that  the  Governor,    Mr. 

JThis  by  the  way  shows  a  great  difference  between  the  temper  of  Plymouth  and 
Massachusetts  rulers  of  which  we  shall  yet  see  more.  The  chief  sachems'  names 
are  very  differently  spelt  in  the  different  writings  I  have  met  with. 

2This  perfectly  agrees  with  the  account  we  have  of  Massasoit's  or  Osamaquin's 
league  he  made  with  Plymouth  people  the  spring  after  their  last  coming,  and  of  the 
Xarragansett's  threatenings  on  that  account.  Prince's  Chronology,  pp.  102,  116, 
[187,  188,  199,  200.] 


58  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Bradford,  deceased,  and  other  of  their  Magistrates,  declared  unto  me,  both 
by  conference  and  writing,  that  they  and  their  government  were  satisfied, 
aud  resolved  never  to  molest  Providence,  nor  to  claim  beyond  Secuuk,  but 
to  continue  loving  friends  and  neighbors  (among  the  barbarians)  together. 
This  is  the  true  sum  and  substance  of  many  passages  between  our  coun- 
trymen of  Plymouth  and  Osamaquin,  and  me. 

Roger  Williams.1 

The  above  date  of  Mr.  Williams's  removal  is  confirmed 
by  Mr.  Winslow's  being  then  Governor  of  Plymouth  ;  for 
1636  was  the  only  year  that  he  sustained  that  office  between 
1633  and  164-4.  And  as  it  appeared  by  Plymouth  records 
that  he  entered  on  his  government  the  first  of  March  that 
year,  we  may  conclude  that  Mr.  Williams  fled  to  Secunk  in 
the  depth  of  winter,  and  removed  with  a  few  friends  over 
the  river  in  the  spring2.      Here  let  us   admire  the   wisdom 

'Copied  from  the  original,  in  his  own  hand  writing,  dated  "  Providence,  13, 10, 
1G61,  (so  called)." 

2It  is  said  that  he,  with  Thomas  Angell,  a  hired  servant,  and  some  others,  went 
over  in  a  canoe,  and  were  saluted  by  the  Indians  near  the  lower  ferry,  by  the  word 
Whatcheere?  i.  e.  How  do  you  do?  which  gave  name  to  a  field,  which  Mr.  Williams 
sold  many  years  after,  and  in  the  deed  says  he  satisfied  the  owner  for  it,  and  planted 
it,  at  his  first  coming,  with  his  own  hands.  They  went  round  till  they  got  to  a 
pleasant  spring  above,  where  is  now  the  great  bridge,  where  they  landed;  and  near 
to  which  both  he  and  Angell  lived  to  old  age. — B. 

The  date  of  Roger  Williams's  removal  from  Seekonk  to  Providence  can  be 
reached  only  approximately.  In  a  letter  to  Major  Mason  of  Connecticut,  written 
June  22,  1770,  published  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  i.  p.  275, 
he  writes  that  he  "  begun  to  build  and  plant  at  Seekonk,"  and  that  his  removal  oc- 
casioned his  "  loss  of  a  harvest  that  year."  His  letter  to  the  Massachusetts  colony 
announcing  the  murder  of  Oldham,  which  Governor  Winthrop  states  (Vol.  I,  p.  190) 
was  received  July  2G,  seems  to  have  been  written  from  Providence.  If  so,  his  re- 
moval must  have  been  before  this  date,  and  after  the  beginning  of  planting  time. 
From  these  dates  Knowles  (Memoir,  p.  104)  conjectures  that  it  took  place  about 
the  middle  of  June.  Elton,  (Life  of  Roger  Williams,  p.  38.)  and  Gamwell,  (Life 
of  Roger  Williams,  p.  04,)  place  it  in  the  latter  part  of  June.  The  words  "I 
begun  to  build  and  plant  at  Seekonk"  might  suggest  a  somewhat  earlier  date,  as  the 
season  of  planting  does  not  extend  beyond  the  last  of  May.  There  is  perhaps 
another  clue  which  will  fix  the  time  more  definitely.  In  the  letter  to  Major  MasOD 
already  quoted,  Williams  writes  that  between  his  "friends  of  the  Bay  and  Plymouth,' 
he  was  "  sorely  tossed  for  one  fourteen  weeks,  not  knowing  what  bread  or  bed  did 
mean."  His  departure  from  Salem  was  in  January  ;  at  what  part  of  the  month  we 
do  not  know.  Elton  states  (p.  33)  that  his  citation  before  the  General  Court,  the 
immediate  cause  of  his  flight,  was  January  11th,  but  here  he  evidently  mistakes  the 
words    of  Winthrop,  "11    mo.   January"  which  mean   only   January  the    eleventh 


[1636.]  WILLIAMS'S  SERVICES  IN  THE  PEQUOD  WAR.  59 

that  governs  the  world.  "  As  Joseph  was  sold  by  his  envi- 
ous brethren,  with  intent  to  get  him  out  of  their  way,  yet 
divine  providence  overruled  this  cruel  action  quite  otherwise 
than  they  intended,  and  made  it  the  means  of  their  future 
preservation  ;  so  the  harsh  treatment  and  cruel  exile  of  Mr. 
Williams  seem  designed  by  his  brethren  for  the  same  evil 
end,  but  was,  by  the  goodness  of  the  same  over-ruling  hand, 
turned  to  the  most  beneficent  purposes1." 

Just  at  this  juncture,  the  Pequods,  a  powerful  Indian 
tribe,  who  lived  upon  the  lands  where  are  now  the  towns  of 
Groton  and  Stonington,  were  forming  plots  against  the 
English  colonies,  even  the  very  year  that  those  of  Connecti- 
cut and  Providence  began,  and  when  Boston  was  but  six 
years  old ;  and  as  a  vessel  was  sent  by  the  government  from 
thence,  under  the  command  of  John  Oldham,  to  trade  with 
the  natives  at  Block  Island,  about  fourteen  Indians  boarded 
the  vessel,  and  murdered  him  ;  but  as  John  Gallop  happened 
to  come  upon  them,  in  his  return  from  Connecticut  river,  they 
leaped  into  the  sea,  where  some  were  drowned,  and  others 
reached  the  shore.  The  first  news  of  this  sad  event  that 
they  received  was  from  Mr.  Williams's  pen,  by  two  Indians 
who  went  with  Oldham,  and  one  from  Canonicus,  a  Narra- 
gansett  sachem,  who  arrived  at  Boston,  July  26,  1636. 
Governor  Yane  wrote  back  to  Mr.  Williams,  to  let  the  Nar- 
ragansetts  know  that  they  expected  them  to  send  home  two 
boys  who  were  with  Oldham,  and  to  take  revenge  upon  the 
islanders.  Four  days  after  the  boys  came  home  with  one  of 
Miantinomy's  men,  with  another  letter  from  Mr.  Williams, 
informing  that  said  sachem  had  caused  the  sachem  of  Nian- 
tick  to  send  to  Block  Island  for  them,  and  that  he  had  near 

I 

month,  according  to  the  old  style  of  reckoning.  If  we  suppose  Williams's  escape  to 
have  taken  place  the  latter  part  of  January,  counting  fourteen  weeks,  we  have  near 
the  middle  of  May,  as  the  date  of  his  settlement  in  Providence.  This  would  be 
late  enough  for  him  to  have  "begun  to  plant  at  Seekonk,"  and,  considering 
the  bargains  which  he  must  make  with  the  Indians  and  other  delays  in  founding  a 
new  settlement,  late  enough  to  occasion  his  "  loss  of  a  harvest  that  year." — Ed. 
'History  of  Providence. 


60  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

a  hundred  fathom  of  peag1,  and  much  other  goods  of  Old- 
ham's which  should  he  reserved  for  them,  and  that  three  of 
the  seven  Indians  who  were  drowned  were  sachems2. 
August  26  came  a  third  letter  from  Mr.  Williams.  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop  says : — 

In  these  Indian  troubles  Mr.  Williams  was  assiduous  to  influence  the 
Narragansetts  in  favor  of  the  English,  and  to  keep  them  from  joining  with 
the  Pequods3. 

Sept.  Canonicus  sent  word  of  some  English  whom  the  Pequods  had 
killed  at  Saybrook,  and  Mr.  Williams  wrote  that  the  Pequods  and  Narra- 
gansetts were  at  truce,  and  that  Miantonomoh  told  him  that  the  Pequods 
had  labored  to  persuade  them  that  the  English  were  minded  to  destroy  all 
the  Indians.     Whereupon  we  sent  for  Miantonomoh  to  come  to  us. 

Accordingly  he  and  two  of  Canonicus's  sons  and  another 
sachem,  and  near  twenty  of  their  men  whom  they  call  san- 
nups,  came  to  Boston  October  21,  where  the  Governor  called 
together  all  the  magistrates  and  ministers,  and  next  day  a 
firm  league  was  signed  between  them.  "  But  because  they 
could  not  make  them  well  understand  the  articles,  they  told 
them  they  would  send  a  copy  of  them  to  Mr.  Williams,  who 

1Wampum.— Ed. 

2Hubbard,  [249,  250.]  Hubbard  also  quotes  from  Winthrop's  Journal,  Vol.  I,  p. 
190,  the  statement  that  ten  or  eleven  Indians  were  drowned. — Ed. 

3Hubbard's  Journal, — B. 

11  The  warlike  tribe  [the  Pequods]  courted  the  alliance  of  its  neighbors,  the  Narra- 
gansetts and  the  Mohegans,  that  a  union  and  a  general  rising  of  the  natives  might 
sweep  the  hated  intruder's  from  the  ancient  hunting  grounds  of  the  Indian  race. 
The  design  could  be  frustrated  by  none  but  Roger  Williams  ;  and  the  exile,  who  had 
been  the  first  to  communicate  to  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  the  news  of  the  im- 
pending conspiracy,  encountered  the  extremity  of  penl  with  magnanimous  heroism. 
Having  received  letters  from  Vane  and  the  Council  of  Massachusetts  requesting  his 
utmost  and  speediest  endeavors  to  prevent  the  league,  neither  storms  of  wind  nor 
high  seas  could  detain  the  adventurous  envoy.  Shipping  himself  alone  in  a  poor 
canoe,  everjLiYioment  at  the  hazard  of  his  life,  he  hastened  to  the  house  of  the  sa- 
chem of  the  iS'arragansetts.  The  Pequod  ambassadors,  reeking  with  blood,  were 
already  there,  and  for  three  days  and  nights  the  business  compelled  him  to  lodge  and 
mix  with  them,  having  cause  every  night  to  expect  their  knives  at  bis  throat  The 
Narraganiettl  were  wavering;  but  Roger  Williams  succeeded  in  dissolving  the 
formidable  conspiracy.  It  was  the  most  intrepid  and  most  successful  achievement 
in  the  whole  l'equod  war; — an  action  as  perilous  in  its  execution  as  it  was  fortunate 
in  its  issue."     Bancroft,  Vol.  I,  p.  398. — Ed. 


[1636.]  LAW  AGAINST  IRREGULAR  CHURCHES.  61 

could  best  interpret  the  same  to  them.  So  after  dinner  they 
took  leave1."  What  would  the  Massachusetts  have  now  done, 
if  Mr.  Williams  had  been  sent  to  England,  as  they  had  in- 
tended, the  winter  before! 

Let  us  now  review  their  religious  state.  In  October,  1635, 
arrived  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard  and  Hugh  Peters,  two  ministers, 
who  were  much  improved  afterward  ;  also  Mr.  afterward  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  the  latter  of  whom  was  admitted  a  member  of 
Boston  church  November  l2.  At  the  General  Assembly 
held  March  3,  1636,  it  was 

Ordered,  that  all  persons  are  to  take  notice  that  this  Court  doth  not,  nor 
will  hereafter,  approve  of  any  such  companies  of  men,  as  shall  henceforth 
join  in  any  pretended  way  of  church  fellowship,  without  they  shall  first  ac- 
quaint the  magistrates  and  the  elders  of  the  greater  part  of  the  churches 
in  this  jurisdiction  with  their  intentions,  and  have  their  approbation  herein. 
And  further  it  is  ordered,  that  no  person  being  a  member  of  any  church 
which  shall  hereafter  be  gathered  without  the  approbation  of  the  magis- 
trates and  the  greater  part  of  said  churches,  shall  be  admitted  to  the  free- 
dom of  this  commonwealth3. 

At  the  election  at  Boston,  May  25,  Mr.  Vane  was  chosen 
Governor,  and  Mr.  Winthrop  Deputy  Governor ;  and  a 
standing  Council  was  formed  of  three  men.  "The  reason 
was,  for  that  it  was  shewed  from  the  word  of  God,  &c,  that 
the  principal  magistrates  ought  to  be  for  life."  Mr.  Win- 
throp and  Mr.  Dudley  were  chosen  for  life,  and  Governor 
Vane  to  be  their  President4.     The  next  year  Mr.  Endicott 

Winthrop,  [Vol.  I,  pp.  196,  199]  ;  Hubbard,  [253.] 

2Wintbrop,  [Vol.  I,  p.  170.] 

3Massachusetts  Eecords. 

4Winthrop's  Journal,  [184.]  Mr.  Cotton  wrote  this  year  to  Lord  Say  and 
Seal,  and  says,  "  God  hath  so  framed  the  state  of  church  government  and  ordinan- 
ces, that  they  may  be  compatible  to  any  commonwealth,  though  never  so  much  dis- 
ordered in  its  frame.  But  yet  when  a  commonwealth  hath  liberty  to  mould  its  own 
frame,  I  conceive  the  Scripture  hath  given  full  direction  for  the  right  ordering  of 
the  same,  and  that  in  such  sort  as  may  best  maintain  the  euexia  [well  being]  of  the 
church.  Mr.  Hooker  doth  often  quote  a  saying  out  of  Mr.  Cartwright,  that  no  man 
fashioneth  his  house  to  his  hangings,  but  his  hangings  to  his  house.  It  is  better  that 
the  commonwealth  be  fashioned  to  the  setting  forth  of  God's  house,  which  is  his 
church ;  than  to  accommodate  the  church  frame  to  the  civil  state Nor  need 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

was   chosen  for  life  in  Vane's   room.     This  Council  soon 
found  work  to  do.  one  article  of  which  here  follows : — 

To  the  Constable  of  Salem : 

Whereas  we  are  credibly  informed  that  divers  persons  (both  of  men  and 
women)  within  your  town,  do  disorderly  assemble  themselves  both  on  the 
Lord's  days  and  at  other  times,  contemptuously  refusing  to  come  to  the  sol- 
emn meetings  of  the  church  there  (or  being  some  of  them  justly  cast  out) 
do  obstinately  refuse  to  submit  themselves,  that  they  might  be  again  re- 
ceived ;  but  do  make  conventions,  and  seduce  diverse  persons  of  weak  ca- 
pacity, and  have  already  withdrawn  some  of  them  from  the  church,  and 
hereby  have  caused  much  (not  only  disturbance  in  the  church,  but  also) 
disorders  and  damage  in  the  civil  state  ;  .  .  .  .  these  are  therefore  to  re- 
quire you  forthwith  to  repair  unto  all  such  disorderly  persons  ;  and  signify 
to  them  that  said  course  is  very  offensive  to  the  government  here,  and  may 
no  longer  be  suffered,  and  therefore  command  them  from  us,  to  refrain  all 
such  disordered  assemblies,  and  pretended  church  meetings  ;  and  either  to 
conform  themselves  to  the  laws  and  orders  of  this  government,  being  es- 
tablished according  to  the  rule  of  God's  word  ;  or  else  let  them  be  assured 
that  we  shall  by  God's  assistance  take  some  such  strict  and  speedy  course 
for  the  reformation  of  these  disorders,  and  preventing  the  evils  which  may 
otherways  ensue,  as  our  duty  to  God  and  charge  over  his  people  do  call  for 
from  us.  And  when  you  have  given  them  this  admonition  you  shall  dili- 
gently attend  how  it  is  observed,  and  certify  us  accordingly,  as  you  will  an- 
swer your  neglect  herein  at  your  peril. 

H.  Vane,  Gov. 

Jo.  Winthrop,  Dept. 

Tho.  Dudley1. 
From  Boston  this  30th  of  the  3d  month,  1636. 

They  were  somewhat  too  short  in  declaring  the  laws  and 
orders  of  their  government  already  established,  for  that 
work  was  yet  to  do  ;  therefore  this  Court  now  passed  the 
following  act,  viz. : — 

The  Governor,  Deputy  Governor,  Thomas  Dudley,  John  Ilaynes,  Rich- 
ard Bellingham,  Esquires,  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Peters,  and   Mr.  Shepard,  are 

we  fear,  that  this  course  will,  in  time,  east  the  Commonwealth  into  distractions,  and 

popular  confusions Purity  preserved  in  the  church,  will  preserve  well  ordered 

liherty  in  the  people,  ami  both  of  them  establish  will  balanced  authority  in  the  mag- 
istrates."    Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  497,  500.     [219,  220.]     His  great  mis- 
take herein  will  soon  appear. 
'Winthrop. 


[1636.]  DISPUTES   ON  GRACE   AND   WORKS.  63 

entreated  to  make  a  draught  of  laws  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  which 
may  be  the  fundamentals  of  this  commonwealth,  and  to  present  the  same 
to  the  next  General  Court ;  and  it  is  ordered  that  in  the  mean  time  the 
magistrates  and  their  associates  shall  proceed  in  the  courts  to  hear  and  de- 
termine all  causes  according  to  the  laws  now  established,  and  where  there 
is  no  law,  then  as  near  the  laws  of  God  as  they  can1. 

Soon  after  this  came  on  such  disputes  in  the  country 
about  grace  and  works,  that  "  it  began  to  be  as  common 
there  to  distinguish  between  men  being  under  a  covenant  of 
works,  and  a  covenant  of  grace,  as  in  other  countries  between 
protestants  and  paptists2."     It  divided  the  General  Court, 

Massachusetts  Records.  From  the  beginning,  their  Governor  and  Assistants  had 
been  their  executive  court,  till  the  March  preceding,  when  they  took  in  associates 
with  the  magistrates,  and  formed  inferior  courts  in  their  several  towns,  to  try  causes 
not  exceeding  ten  pounds ;  from  whence  appeals  might  be  made  to  the  Court  of 
Assistants. 

2Hubbard,  [294].  Captain  Johnson  says,  "That  you  may  understand  their  way 
of  broaching  their  abominable  errors,  it  was  in  dividing  those  things  the  Lord  hath 
united  in  his  work  of  conversion  continued,  carrying  on  a  soul  to  heaven,  in  these 
four  particulars  : 

"•1.  In  dividing  between  the  word  and  the  word,  under  pretense  of  a  legal  gospel, 
persuading  the  people  their  ministers  were  legal  preachers,  teaching  them  little 
better  than  popery,  and  unfit  for  gospel  churches  ;  denying  them  to  be  any  minis- 
ters of  Christ,  that  preach  any  preparation  work,  by  shewing  men  what  the  law  re- 
quires. Here's  nothing,  says  one  of  them,  but  preaching  out  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets.  Truly,  says  another,  I  have  not  heard  a  pure  gospel  sermon  from  any  of 
them. 

"2.  In  separating  Christ  and  his  graces,  in  manifesting  himself  to  be  in  the  soul; 
and  this  they  say  makes  much  for  the  magnifying  of  free  grace ;  and  indeed  they 
made  it  so  free,  that  the  soul  that  receives  it  shall  never  taste  any  of  it  by  their 
consent,  but  remain  still  a  dry  branch  as  before.  These  legal  Pharisees,  says  one 
of  them,  tell  us  of  a  thing  they  call  inherent  grace,  and  of  a  man  being  made  a  new 
creature  ;  but  I  am  sure  the  best  of  them  go  on  in  their  legal  duties  and  perform- 
ances still,  sorrowing  for  sin,  hearing  of  sermons,  observing  duty  morning  and 
evening,  and  many  such  like  matters.  Tush  man,  says  another,  you  shall  hear 
more  than  this  ;  I  was  discoursing  with  one  of  their  scholastic  preacher's  disciples, 
a  professed  convert,  and  yet  when  he  came  to  pray  he  begged  for  the  forgiveness  of 
his  sins ;  I  asked  him  why  he  used  that  vain  repetition,  since  he  did  believe  he  was 
justified  by  Christ  already?  He  made  me  an  answer  not  worth  repeating;  but  when 
I  told  him  God  could  see  no  sin  in  his  people,  no  more  than  I  could  see  that  which 
was  covered  close  from  my  eyesight,  he  told  me  I  spake  little  less  than  blasphemy. 
So  ignorant  are  these  men,  and  their  learned  guides  also  ;  who  persuade  them  the 
more  they  have  of  the  indwelling  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  the  better  they  shall  be 
enabled  to  these  legal  duties.  Nay,  quoth  the  other,  I  can  tell  you  more  than  all 
this  ;  they  make  it  an  evidence  of  their  good  estate,  even  their  sanctification,  and 
yet  these  men  would  make  people  believe  they  are  against  popery. 


6-i  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  from  thence  it  was  carried  into  Boston  church,  where 
it  caused  sharp  debates  on  Lord's  day,  December  31,  be- 
tween the  two  ministers,  Cotton  and  Wilson,  and  between 
the  Governor  and  Deputy  Governor,  who  were  members  of 
it1.  In  this  controversy  Mr.  Cotton  found  what  it  was  to 
fall  into  the  minority,  for  none  of  the  ministers  held  fully 
with  him  but  Mr.  Wheelwright,  who  was  not  a  settled  min- 
ister, but  was  preaching  to  a  branch  of  Boston  church,  at 
the  place  now  called  Braintree  ;  where,  at  a  general  fast  on 
January  19,  1637,  he  delivered  a  discourse  that  greatly  in- 
creased the  flame.  Under  his  third  use,  we  are  told  that  he 
said,  "  The  second  sort  of  people  that  are  to  be  condemned, 
are  all  such  as  do  set  themselves  against  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  such  are  the  greatest  enemies  to  the  State  as  can  be  ; 
if  they  can  have  their  wills,  you  see  what  a  lamentable 
state  both  church  and  commonwealth  will  be  in ;  then  we 
shall  have  need  of  mourning ;  the  Lord  cannot  endure  those 

"3.  The  third  dividing  tenet,  by  which  these  persons  prosecuted  their  errors, 
was  between  the  word  of  God  and  the  Spirit  of  God  :  And  here  these  sectaries  had 
many  pretty  knacks  to  delude  withal,  and  especially  to  please  the  female    sex,  they 

told  of  rare  revelations  of  things  to  come  from  the  Spirit,  as   they  say Come 

along  with  me,  says  one  of  them,  Twill  bring  you  to  a  woman  that  preaches  better 
gospel  than  any  of  your  black  coats,  that  have  been  at  the  university*  ;  a  woman  of 
another  kind  of  spirit,  who  hath  had  many  revelations  of  things  to  come ;  and  for 
my  part,  saith  he,  I  had  rather  hear  such  a  one  that  speaks  from  the  mere  motion  of 
the  Spirit,  without  any  study  at  all  than  any  of  your  learned  scholars,  although 
they  may  be  fuller  of  Scripture,  and,  admit  they  speak  by  the  help  of  the  Spirit, 
yet  the  other  goes  beyond  them. 

"  4.  To  divide  between  Christ  and  his  ordinances ;  and  here  they  played  their 
game  to  purpose,  even  casting  down  all  ordinances  as  carnal,  and  that  because  they 
were  polluted  hy  the  ordinance  of  man;  as  some  of  these  sectaries  have  said  to  the 
ministers  of  Christ,  you  have  cast  off  the  cross  in  baptism,  hut  you  would  do  well 
to  cast  off  baptism  itself;  as  also  for  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  for  to 
make  use  of  bread,  or  the  juice  of  a  silly  grape,  to  represent  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ,  they  accounted  it  as  bad  as  necromancy  in  ministers  of  Christ  to  perform 
it."     Johnson's  History,  pp.  94 — 97. 

'Winthrop,  [Vol.  I,  210.]— Hubbard  [291.] 

In  Johnso&'t  HistOl y, .both  the  original  edition  and  the  recent  excellent  reprint  edited  by  Mr. 
Poole,  this  word  is  ninnevemity.  Backus  seems  to  have  taken  as  a  mistake  what  was  meant  for  a 
pun.— Ed. 


[1637.]  DIFFICULTY  WITH  MR.  WHEELWRIGHT.  65 

that  are  enemies  to  himself  and  kingdom  and  people,  and 
unto  the  good  of  his  church1." 

At  the  General  Court,  March  9,  Mr.  Wheelwright  was 
called  to  account  for  the  words  which  tended  to  sedition  in 
his  sermon,  but  the  matter  was  deferred  from  Court  to  Court 
till  fall,  when  he  was  banished.  Contention  arose  to  a  great 
height.  Stephen  Greensmith,  for  saying  "  that  all  the  min- 
isters, except  A.  B.  C2.  did  teach  a  covenant  of  works,  was 
censured  to  acknowledge  his  fault  in  every  church,  and 
fined  forty  pounds3." 

At  the  General  Court,  May  17,  1637,  after  a  hot  dispute 
they  proceeded  to  election,  when  Mr.  Vane  and  his  friends 
were  left  out4;  and  a  law  was  made,  "that  no  town  or  per- 
son shall  receive  any  stranger  resorting  hither  with  intent  to 
reside  in  this  jurisdiction,  nor  shall  allow  any  lot  or  habita- 
tion to  any  above  three  weeks,  except  such  persons  shall 
have  allowance  under  some  one  of  the  Council,  or  of  two 
other  of  the  magistrates  their  hands,  upon  pain  that  every 
town  that  shall  give  or  sell  any  lot  or  habitation  to  any  such 
not  so  allowed  shall  forfeit  one  hundred  pounds  for  every 
offence ;  and  every  person  receiving  any  such  for  longer 
time  than  is  here  expressed,  or  than  shall  be  allowed  in 
some  special  case  ....  shall  forfeit  for  every  offence  forty 
pounds,  and  for  every  month  after  such  person  shall  there 
continue  twenty  pounds5." 

Mr.  Cotton  was  for  a  while  so  much  dissatisfied  with  this 
law,  that  he  had  thoughts  of  removing  out  of  that  jurisdic- 
tion6.    Governor  Winthrop  wrote  a  defence  of  it,  in  which 

Norton's  Glass  for  New  England,  pp.  19,  20.  Gorton  says,  in  this,  Wheelwright 
"bore  testimony  to  the  light;"  and  the  words  above  he  says  he  transcribed  out  of 
Mr.  Wheelwright's  manuscript. 

2"  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Wheelwright,  and  he  thought,  Mr.  Hooker."  Hutchinson, 
Vol.  I,  p.  62,— Ed. 

nVinthrop,  [Vol.  I,  p.  215.] 

4He  sailed  for  England  the  3d  of  August  following. 

Massachusetts  Records. 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  63.     [64.] 


66  HISTORY  OF   THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

he  does  not  deny  but  that  a  principal  design  of  that  law  was 
to  keep  away  persons  of  Mr.  Wheelwright's  opinions,  and 
says : — 

If  we  find  his  opinions  such  as  will  cause  divisions,  and  make  people 
look  at  their  magistrates,  ministers,  and  brethren,  as  enemies  to  Christ, 
antichrists,  &c,  were  it  not  sin  and  unfaithfulness  in  us,  to  receive  more  of 
their  opiuions,  which  we  already  find  the  evil  fruit  of?  Nay,  why  do  not 
those  who  now  complain  join  with  us  in  keeping  out  such,  as  well  as  for- 
merly they  did  in  expelling  Mr.  Williams  for  the  like,  though  less  danger- 
ous? Where  this  change  of  their  judgments  should  arise  I  leave  to  them- 
selves to  examine1. 

Ah !  less  dangerous,  sure  enough !  for  Mr.  Williams  was 
banished  for  holding  that  the  magistrate's  sword  ought  not 
to  be  brought  in  to  decide  religious  controversies ;  but 
Wheelwright  would  have  turned  that  sword  against  the 
rulers,  ministers,  and  people,  that  he  judged  to  be  under  a 
covenant  of  works,  and  so  enemies  to  grace. 

Mr.  Wheelwright  was  brother-in-law  to  Mrs.  Anne  Hutch- 
inson, who  had  been  a  principal  instrument  of  the  division 
^in  the  country  about  grace  and  works.  We  are  told  that  she 
brought  these  two  errors  out  of  England  with  her,  viz. : — 
"1.  That  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost  dwells  in  a  justified 
person.  2.  That  no  sanctification  can  help  to  evidence  our 
justification2."  A  synod  of  ministers  and  messengers  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  met  at  Newtown,  the  30th  of 
August,  and  spent  three  weeks  in  debates  upon  these  con- 
troversies, and  drew  up  and  condemned  fourscore  errors. 
The  General  Court  adjourned  to  attend  on  their  debates, 
and  after  their  result  was  signed  by  all  the  settled  ministers 
except  Mr.  Cotton,  who  also  appeared  to  incline  towards 
the  majority,  they  met,  September  26,  when  it  is  recorded, — 

Mr.  Wheelwright  appearing,  was  dismissed  until  he  should  be  sent  for 
by  the  Court  or  Courts  which  shall  succeed.  This  present  Court  is  dissolved, 
until  a  new  one  be  called,  and  to  be  kept  at  Newtown.3 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  3,  p.  71.      2Winthrop's  Journal,  [Vol.  I,  p.  200.] 
Massachusetts  Records. 


[1637.]  DIFFICULTY  WITH  MR.  WHEELWRIGHT.  67 

Here  opens  something  that  I  never  heard  of  till  I  found 
it  upon  the  colony  records.  It  was  customary  to  elect  their 
deputies  twice  a  year,  namely,  in  the  spring  and  fall ;  but 
to  choose  them  twice  in  one  fall  was  an  unprecedented  act,  of 
which  I  believe  no  parallel  can  be  found  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  country  to  this  day.  It  seems  that  a  major  vote 
of  those  deputies,  to  execute  the  decrees  of  the  late  synod, 
could  not  be  obtained,  therefore  the  House  was  dissolved, 
and  a  new  one  convened  on  November  2,  1637  j1  to  which  a 
remonstrance  against  those  former  proceedings  was  pre- 
sented, signed  by  above  sixty  men ;  of  whom  William 
Aspinwall,  who  drew  it,  and  John  Coggshall  were  members 
of  the  Assembly.  For  this  they  were  now  excluded,  and 
an  order  was  sent  for  Boston  to  choose  two  other  deputies. 
Also,  "  John  Oliver,  justifying  the  seditious  libel  called  a 
remonstrance  or  petition,  was  dismissed  from  being  a  deputy 
in  this  Court."2  The  Court  then  proceeded  to  pass  the  fol- 
lowing sentences,- viz. : — 

Mr.  John  Wheelwright  being  formerly  convicted   of  contempt  and  sedi- 

xIt  was  enacted  July  14,  1634,  that  there  should  be  "four  General  Courts  held 
yearly,"  and  that  Deputies  should  be  chosen  "  before  every  General  Court."  March 
3,  K36,  it  was  enacted  that  it  should  "be  lawful  for  the  Governor  or  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor, or  any  two  magistrates,  upon  special  and  urgent  occasions,  to  appoint  Courts," 
at  other  than  the  regular  times.  At  the  same  time  it  was  ordered  that  thereafter 
there  should  be  "  only  two  General  Courts  kept  in  a  year,"  one  in  May  and  one  in 
October.  In  the  case  under  consideration,  probably  the  Governor  deemed  the  occa- 
sion sufficiently  urgent  to  demand  a  special  Court,  and  a  new  election  was  held  ac- 
cording to  the  law  above  cited,  which  required  that  Deputies  be  chosen  before  every 
Court.     Sec  Massachusetts  Records. — Ed. 

Massachusetts  Records ;  Winthrop.  The  remaining  members  of  the  Assembly 
were  Governor  Winthrop,  Deputy  Governor  Dudley,  John  Endicott,  John  Humfrey, 
Richard  Bellingham,  Roger  Harlakenden,  Israel  Stoughton,  Simon  Bradstreet,  and 
Increase  Nowell,  Assistants,  and  thirty-one  Deputies.  The  House  that  was  dis- 
solved in  September  had  twenty-six  Deputies,  of  whom  but  eleven  were  in  this  new 
House.  Mr.  Atherton  Hough  was  one  who  was  left  out,  though  he  was  a  magistrate 
two  years  before.  John  and  Isaac  Heath,  John  Johnson,  Thomas  Lynde,  Nicholas 
Danforth,  William  Spencer,  Samuel  Appleton,  Joseph  Metcalf,  John  Upham  and 
Thomas  Gardner,  were  also  of  those  they  left  out.* 

These  and  such  like  proceedings  caused  the  removal  of  Mr.  William  Blaxton 
about  this  time,     He  was  a  minister  in  the  church  of  England,  but  came  early  to  this 

♦According  to  the  printed  records  of  this  former  Court,  it  had  twenty-seven  Deputies.  The  name 
of  John  Heath  is  not  among  them.  It  is  proper  to  remark,  however,  that  the  printed  records  are  not 
infallible.— Ed. 


68  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tion,  and  now  justifying  himself  and  his  former  practice,  being  the  dis- 
turbance of  the  civil  peace,  he  is  by  the  Court  disfranchised  and  banished, 
having  fourteen  days  to  Settle  his  affairs. 

Mr.  John  Coggshall  beiug  convented  for  disturbing  the  public  peace, 
was  disfranchised,  and  enjoined  not  to  speak  anything  to  disturb  the  public 
peace,  upon  pain  of  banishment. 

Mr.  William  Aspinwall  being  convented  for  having  his  hand  to  a  peti- 
tion or  remonstrance,  being  a  seditious  libel,  and  justifying  the  same, 
for  which  and  for  his  insolent  and  turbulent  carriage,  he  is  disfranchised 
and  banished,  putting  in  sureties  for  his  departure  before  the  end  of  the  first 
month  next  ensuiug. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson,  the  wife  of  Mr.  William  Hutchinson,  being  convented 
for  traducing  the  ministers  and  their  ministry  in  this  country,  she  declared 
voluntarily  her  revelations  were  the  ground,  and  that  she  should  be  deliv- 
ered, and  the  Court  ruined  with  their  posterity,  and  hereupon  was  banish- 
ed ;  and  the  meanwhile  was  committed  to  Mr.  Joseph  Weld,  until  the 
Court  shall  dispose  of  her. 

Captain  Underhill,  and  two  sergeants,  were  put  from  office 
and  disfranchised,  one  of  the  sergeants  being  fined  forty 
pounds  the  other  twenty  pounds.  Four  men  more  were  disfran- 
chised for  having  their  hands  to  said  petition,  one  of  whom 
was  William  Dyer,  afterward  the  first  Secretary  of  Rhode 
Island  colony.  Ten  men  retracted  their  signing  that  remon- 
strance, and  were  forgiven.  Then  upon  the  20th  of  No- 
vember the  court  passed  the  following  sentence : — 

Whereas  the  opinions   and  revelations  of  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  Mrs. 

country.  It  appears  by  Johnson's  History,  p.  20,  that  he  was  here  in  1628,  but  not 
agreeing  with  Mr.  Endicott  and  others  about  church  affairs,  lie  betook  himself  to 
agriculture.  He  had  planted  himself  upon  the  neck  of  land  where  Boston  stands, 
which  from  him  was  called  Blaxton's  Point,  when  the  Massachusetts  company  first 
arrived  with  their  charter.  At  a  Court  in  Boston,  April  1,  1633,  they  made  him  a 
grant  of  fifty  acres  of  land  near  his  house  there.  Massachusetts  Records.  Yet 
now  he  said,  "I  came  from  England  because  I  did  not  like  the  lord  bishops;  but  I 
cannot  join  with  you,  because  I  would  not  be  under  the  lord  brethren."  Magnalia, 
[Vol.  I,  p.  221.]  He  went  and  settled  six  miles  north  of  Mr.  Williams,  near  what 
is  now  called  Whipple's  Bridge,  in  Cumberland,  where  he  lived  to  old  age,  and  used 
at  times  to  preach  at  Providence,  and  other  places  adjacent,  and  left  behind  him  the 
character  of  a  godly  and  pious  man.  His  family  is  extinct.  He  planted  an  orchard 
near  where  he  lived,  which  we  are  told  is  the  first  that  ever  bore  fruit  in  Rhode  Is- 
land colony  ;  and  one  hundred  and  forty  years  after,  many  of  the  trees  continued  to 
be  thrifty  and  fruitful. 


[1637.]  MASSACHUSETTS  DISARMS  KBN  FOB  HERESY.  69 

Hutchinson  have  seduced  and  Led  into  dangerous  errors  many  of  the  peo- 
ple of  New    England,  insomuch    as  there    is  just   cause   of  suspicion   that 

they,  as  others  in  Germany  in  former  times,  may  upon  some  revelation 
make  sudden  irruption  upon  those  that  differ  from  them  in  judgment;  for 
prevention  whereof  it  is  ordered  that  all  those  whose  names  are  under- 
written (upon  warning  given  at  their  dwelling-houses)  before   the  30th  day 

of  this  mouth  of  November,  deliver  in  at  Mr.  Keayne's  house,  at  Boston, 
all  such  guns,  pistols,  swords,  powder,  shot  and  match,  as  they  shall  be 
owners  of,  or  have  in  their  custody,  upon  pain  of  ten  pounds  for  every 
default  to  be  made  thereof;  which  arms  are  to  be  kept  by  Mr.  Keayne  till 
this  Court  shall  take  further  order  therein.  Also  it  is  ordered,  upon  like 
penalty  often  pounds  that  no  man  who  is  to  render  his  arms  by  this  order, 
shall  buy  or  borrow  any  guns,  swords,  pistols,  powder,  shot  or  match, 
until  this  Court  shall  take  further  order  therein. 

Seventy-six  men  are  named  as  being  disarmed  by  this  sen- 
tence, only  if  any  of  them  would  acknowledge  and  not  justify 
said  petition  before  two  magistrates,  they  should  then  be 
free  from  it.1  Of  these  men  fifty-eight  belonged  to  Boston, 
five  to  Roxbury,  two  to  Charlestown,  six  to  Salem,  two 
to  Ipswich,  and  three  to  Newbury ;  of  whom  Richard 
Dummer,  of  Newbury,  had  been  an  Assistant,  and  Hutch- 
inson, Underbill,  Aspinwall,  Coggshall  and  Oliver,  of  Bos- 
ton, Robert  Mouiton,  of  Salem,  and  others,  had  been 
deputies. 

Directly  upon  the  foregoing  act  the  Assembly  added  the 
following,  viz.  : — 

The  Court  being  sensible  of  great  disorders  growing  in  this  common- 
wealth, through  the  coutempts  which  have  been  of  late  put  upon  the  civil 
authority,  and  intending  to  provide  remedy  for  the  same  in  time,  doth  order 
and  decree,  that  whosoever  shall  hereafter  openly  or  willingly  defame 
any  court  of  justice,  or  the  sentence  or  proceedings  of  the  same,  or  any  of 
the  magistrates  or  other  judges  of  any  such  court,  in  respect  of  any  act  or 
sentence  therein  passed,  and  being  thereof  lawfully  convicted  in  any  Gen- 
eral Court  or  Courts  of  Assistants,  shall  be  punished  for  the  same,  by  fine, 
imprisonment,  or  disfranchisement  or  banishment,  as  the  quality  and 
measure  of  the  offence    shall  deserve  ;   .  .  .  .  provided  always,  that   seeing 

'Massachusetts  Records.  It  appears  that  the  Court  had  much  difficulty  afterward 
with  Keayne  about  these  arms. 


70  IIISTOKY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  best  judges  may  err  through  ignorance  or  misinformation  ....  it  is 
not  the  intent  of  this  Court  to  restrain  the  free  use  of  the  way  of  God,  by 
petition,  &c. 

A  complaint  being  made  at  the  same  time  that  some  min- 
isters were  not  well  maintained,  the  Court  sent  out  a  request, 
"  That  the  several  churches  will  speedily  enquire  hereinto, 
and  if  need  be  to  confer  together  about  it,  and  send  some  to 
advise  with  this  Court  at  the  next  session  thereof,  that  some 
order  may  be  taken  according  to  the  rule  of  the  gospel."1 
The  effects  of  these  proceedings  we  shall  soon  see  ;  though, 
by  the  way,  it  is  proper  to  observe,  that  as  Mr.  Williams 
had  been  instrumental  of  procuring  the  Narragansetts'  help 
against  the  Pequods,  the  several  colonies  sent  out  their 
forces  against  them,  and  Governor  Win  thro  p  says,  May  24, 
"  By  letters  from  Mr.  Williams  we  were  notified,  that  Capt. 
Mason  was  gone  to  Saybrook  with  eighty  English  and  one- 
hundred  Indians,"2  &c,  so  that  he  was  constantly  engaged 
for  their  good.  The  army  was  successful,  the  Pequods  were 
subdued,  and  I  find  a  proposal  of  a  day  of  thanksgiving 
for  the  soldiers'  return,  at  the  General  Court,  August  1. 
But  at  the  same  time,  they  say,  "  Mr.  John  Greene,  of  Xew 
Providence,  having  spoken  against  the  magistrates  con- 
temptuously, stands  bound  over  in  one  hundred  marks  to 
appear  at  the  next  Quarter  Court."  At  that  Court  he  was 
fined  twenty  pounds,  and  committed  till  it  was  paid  ;  though 
upon  a  submissive  petition  to  the  General  Court,  September 
26,  he  was  released.3  He  with  others  had  resorted  to  Mr., 
Williams's  plantation,  to  which  there  was  a  great  addition  the 
next  spring.  A  new  one  was  begun  at  llhode  Island  ;  of 
which  take  the  following  account. 

Mr.  John  Clarke,  a  learned  physician,  who  I  find  was 
admitted  a  freeman  at  Boston,  May  6,  16o5,4  as  his  brother 

'Massachusetts  Records.  2\Vinthrop's  Journal,  Vol.1,  p.  223. — Ed. 

:i .Massachusetts   Records. 

•The  John  Clarke"  who  was  admitted  a  freeman  at  Boston,  May  6,  1685,  must  have 
been  a  different  person  from  the  founder  of  Rhode   Island  plantation.      The  latter 


[1638.]  SETTLEMENT  ON  RHODE  ISLAND.  71 

Joseph  had  been  the  March  before,  seeing  how  things  were 
turned  at  the  Court,  in  November,  1637,  made  a  proposal  to 
his  friends,  for  peace  sake,  and  to  enjoy  the  freedom  of  their 
consciences,  to  remove  out  of  that  jurisdiction.  The  motion 
was  accepted,  and  he  (being  then  a  gentleman  in  his  29th 
year)  was  requested  with  some  others  to  look  oat  for  a 
place.  They  did  so  ;  and  by  reason  of  the  heat  of  the  pre- 
ceding summer,  they  first  went  northerly  into  that  which  is 
now  the  province  of  New  Hampshire  ;  but  the  coldness  of 
the  following  winter  made  them  incline  to  turn  the  other 
way.  "  So  having  sought  the  Lord  for  direction,  they  agreed 
that  while  their  vessel  was  passing  about  Cape  Cod  they 
would  cross  over  by  land,  having  Long  Island  and  Delaware 
Bay  in  their  eye,  for  the  place  of  their  residence."  At 
Providence  Mr.  Williams  lovingly  entertained  them,  and 
being  consulted  about  their  design,  readily  presented  two 
places  before  them  ;  Sowams,  now  called  Barrington,  and 
Aquetneck,  now  Rhode  Island.  They  being  determined  to 
go  out  of  the  other  jurisdictions,  Mr.  Williams,  Mr.  Clarke, 
and  two  others,  went  to  Plymouth  to  enquire  how  the  case 
stood,  who,  [those  at  Plymouth,]  lovingly  entertained  them, 
and  let  them  know  that  they  claimed  Sowams,  but  advised 
them  to  settle  at  Aquetneck,  and  promised  that  they  should 
be  looked  upon  as  free,  and  to  be  treated  and  assisted  as 
loving  neighbors."     Upon  their  return  nineteen  men  incor- 


writes  in  his  "  Narrative," — "  In  the  year  '37  I  left  my  native  land,  and  in  the  ninth 
month  of  the  same,  I  (through  mercy)  arrived  at  Boston.  I  was  no  sooner  on  shore 
but  there  appeared  to  me  differences  among  them  concerning  the  covenants,  and,  in 
point  of  evidencing  a  man's  good  estate,  some  pressed  hard  for  a  covenant  of  works 
and  for  sanctification  to  be  the  first  and  chief  evidence ;  others  pressed  as  hard  for 
the  covenant  of  grace  that  was  established  upon  a  better  foundation,  and  for  the 
evidence  of  the  Spirit  as  that  which  is  a  more  certain,  constant  and  satisfactory  wit- 
ness." Mass.  Historical  Collections,  fourth  series,  Vol.  II.  p.  22,  The  date  thus 
given  in  the  "  Narrative"  is  verified  by  the  fact  that  the  difficulty  on  the  question  of 
covenants,  which  Clarke  found  in  the  colony  as  soon  as  he  was  on  shore,  does  not 
seem  to  have  arisen  till  1636.  See  p.  63. — Ed. 
A  biographical  notice  of  John  Clarke  will  be  found  in  Chapter  VII.— Ed. 


72  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

porated  themselves  into  a  body  politic,  and  chose  Mr.  Cod- 
dington  to  be  their  judge  or  chief  magistrate.1 

Now  to  take  things  in  their  order,  it  is  to  be  observed, 
that  though  Mr.  Williams  and  a  few  of  his  friends  had, 
with  the  consent  of  the  Narragansett  sachems,  been  settled  at 
Providence  near  two  years,  yet  the  first  deed  of  the  place 
that  is  extant  bears  date  the  same  day  with  that  of  Aquet- 
neck  ;  and  is  as  follows  : — 

At  Nanhiggansick  the  24th  of  the  first  month,  commonly  called  March, 
in  the  2d  year  of  our  plantation,  or  planting  at  Mooshausick,  or  Provi- 
dence :  Memorandum,  that  we  Caunannicus  and  Miantinomu,  the  two 
chief  sachems  of  Nanhiggansick,  having  two  years  since  sold  unto  Roger 
Williams  the  lands  and  meadows  upon  the  two  fresh  rivers  called  Moo- 
shausick and  Wanaskatuckett,2  do  now  by  these  presents  establish  and 
confirm  the  bounds  of  those  lands,  from  the  rivers  and  fields  of  Pawtuck- 
ett,  the  great  hill  of  Neoterconkenitt  on  the  northwest,  and  the  town  of 
Mashapauge  on  the  west.  As  also,  in  consideration  of  the  many  kind- 
nesses and  services  he  hath  continually  done  for  us,  both  for  our  friends  of 
Massachusetts,  as  also  at  Quininkticutt  and  Apaum,  or  Plymouth  ;  we  do 
freely  give  unto  him  all  that  land  from  those  rivers  reaching  to  Pautuxett 
River,  as  also  the  grass  and  meadows  upon  Pautuxett  River ;  in  witness 
whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands. 

The  mark  of  J  Caunannicus, 
The  mark  of  ||  Miantinomu. 
In  presence  of 
The  mark  of  f  Seatagh, 
The  mark  of  *  Assotemewett. 

1639,  Memorandum,  3  month  9  day,  this  was  all  again  confirmed  by 
Miantinomu  ;  he  acknowledged  this  his  act  and  hand  ;  up  the  stream  of 
Pautuckett  and  Pawtuxett  without  limits  we  might  have  for  our  use  of  cat- 
tle ;  witness  hereof. 

Roger  Williams, 
Benedict  Arnold.8 

'Clarke's  Narrative.  [Mass.  Historical  Collections,  fourth  series,  Vol.  II.  p.  25.] — 
Cullender's  Sermon.  [It.  I.  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV.  pp.  83,84.] 

■The  first  of  these  rivers  falls  into  the  cove  above  Providence  great  bridge  from 
the  north,  the  other  from  the  west. 

literally  transcribed  from  Providence  Records.  Pawtucket  Kiver  riseth  in  or 
near  Rutland,  and  runs  through  Leicester,  Sntton,  Grafton  and  Uxbridge,  and 
entering  Rhode  Island  colony,  passes  between  Smithtield  and  Cumberland,  and  falls 
into  Narragansett  Bay,  between  Providence  and  Rehoboth.  Pawtnxet  Kiver  rises 
near  the  borders  of  Connecticut,  and  passing  through  Gloucester,  Scituate  and 
Cranston,  falls  into  said  bay,  five  miles  south  of  Providence. 


[1638.]  DEEDS  OF  RHODE  ISLAND  AND  PROVIDENCE.  73 

The  deed  of  Rhode  Island  was  also  given  the  same  March 
24,  1638  ;  and  twenty  years  after  Mr.  Williams  having  occa- 
sion to  give  his  testimony  concerning  it.  says, — 

I  have  acknowledged  (and  have  and  shall  endeavor  to  maintain)  the 
rights  and  properties  of  every  inhabitant  of  Rhode  Island  in  peace  ;  yet 
since  there  is  so  much  sound  and  noise  of  purchase  and  purchasers,  I 
judge  it  not  unseasonable  to  declare  the  rise  and  bottom  of  the  planting  of 
Rhode  Island  in  the  fountain  of  it.  It  was  not  price  nor  money  that  could 
have  purchased  Rhode  Island.  Rhode  Island  was  obtained  by  love  ;  by 
the  love  and  favor  which  that  honorable  gentleman  Sir  Henry  Vane  and 
myself  had  with  that  great  sachem  Miantinomu,  about  the  league  which  I 
procured  between  the  Massachusetts  English,  &c,  and  the  Xarragansetts 
in  the  Pequod  war.  It  is  true  I  advised  a  gratuity  to  be  presented  to  the 
sachem  and  the  natives,  and  because  Mr.  Coddington  and  the  rest  of  my 
loving  countrymen  were  to  inhabit  the  place,  and  to  be  at  the  charge  of  the 
gratuities,  I  drew  up  a  writing  in  Mr.  Coddington's  name,  aud  in  the  names 
of  such  of  my  loving  countrymen  as  came  up  with  him,  and  put  it  into  as 
sure  a  form  as  I  could  at  that  time  (amongst  the  Indians)  for  the  benefit 
aud  assurance  of  the  present  aud  future  inhabitants  of  the  Island.  This  I 
mention,  that  as  that  truly  noble  Sir  Henry  Vane  hath  been  so  great  an 
instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  for  procuring  of  this  Island  from  the  bar- 
barians, as  also  for  procuring  and  confirming  of  the  charter,  so  it  may  by 
all  due  thankful  acknowledgment  be  remembered  and  recorded  of  us  and 
ours  which  reap  and  enjoy  the  sweet  fruits  of  so  great  benefits,  and  such 
unheard  of  liberties  amongst  us.1 

Mr.  Williams  having  obtained  the  aforesaid  grant  of 
Providence,  conveyed  the  same  to  his  friends  by  the  follow- 
ing instrument : — 

Providence,  8th  of  the  8th  month,  1638  (so  called.)  Memorandum, 
that  I,  Roger  Williams,  having  formerly  purchased  of  Caunannicus  and 
Miantinomu  this  our  situation  or  plantation  of  Xew-Providence,  viz..  the 
two  fresh  rivers  Wanasquatuekett  and  Mooshausick,  and  the  ground  and 
meadows  thereupon  ;  in  consideration  of  thirty  pounds  received  from  the 
inhabitants  of  said  place,  do  freely  and  fully  pass,  grant  and  make  over 
equal  right  and  power  of  enjoying  and  disposing  of  the  same  grounds  and 
lands  unto  my  loving  friends  and  neighbors,  Stukely  VVestcoat,  William 

xThis  I  copied  from  the  original  manuscript,  in  Mr.  Williams's  own  hand  writing, 
dated  "  Providence,  25,6,  1658  (so  called)."  The  affair  of  procuring  the  charter  we 
shall  hear  more  of  anon. 


7-4  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAFTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Arnold,  Thomas  James,  Robert  Cole,  John  Greene,  John  Throckmorton, 
William  Harris,  William  Carpenter,  Thomas  Olney,  Francis  Weston, 
Richard  Waterman,  Ezekiei  Holliman,  and  such  others  as  the  major  part 
of  us  shall  admit  into  the  same  fellowship  of  vote  with  us.  As  also  I  do 
freely  make  and  pass  over  equal  right  and  power  of  enjoying  and  dispos- 
ing of  the  lands  and  grounds  reaching  from  the  aforesaid  rivers  unto  the 
great  river  Pautuxett,  with  the  grass  and  meadows  thereupon,  which  was 
so  lately  given  and  granted  by  the  aforesaid  sachems  to  me  ;  witness  my 
hand,  *Roger  Williams.1 

Those  who  were  thus  received  signed  the  following  cove- 
nant, viz. : — 

We  whose  names  are  here  underwritten  being  desirous  to  inhabit  in  the 
town  of  Providence,  do  promise  to  submit  ourselves  in  active  or  passive 
obedience  to  all  such  orders  or  agreements  as  shall  be  made  for  public 
good  of  the  body  in  an  orderly  way,  by  the  major  consent  of  the  present 
inhabitants,  masters  of  families,  incorporated  together  into  a  township, 
and  such  others  whom  they  shall  admit  into  the  same,  only  in  civil  things. 

By  the  records,  compared  with  a  more  ample  and  full 
deed  of  Mr.  Williams  to  the  town,  executed  December  20, 
1661,  which  is  entered  there,  it  appears  that  he  generously 
gave  the  aforesaid  twelve  men  their  interest  in  the  town 
freely,  and  the  thirty  pounds  were  paid  by  the  next  who 
were  admitted,  at  the  rate  of  thirty  shillings  a  man,  the 
names  of  whom  were  Chad  Brown,  William  Field,  Thomas 
Harris,  William  Wickenden,  Robert  Williams,  Richard 
Scott,  William  Reynolds,  John  Field,  John  Warner.  Thom- 
as Angell,  Benedict  Arnold,  Joshua  Winsor,  Thomas  Hop- 
kins,  Francis  Weeks,  &c.2     In   the  last  mentioned  deed, 

'Providence  Records.  It  seems  the  first  deed  of  this  tenure  was  lost,  therefore 
this  was  drawn  as  exactly  as  could  be  remembered  in  1GG6.  Of  the  above  men, 
Olney,  Weston,  Westcoat,  Waterman  and  Holliman,  did  not  depart  the  Massachu- 
setts colony  till  April,  1(538.  Massachusetts  Records.  They,  with  Throckmorton, 
came  from  Salem.  Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  421,  [371],  and  records  afore- 
said.    Weston  had  been  a  deputy  in  court. 

2()f  these  I  find  Williams  (brother  to  Mr.  Roger)  among  the  Massachusetts  free- 
men, but  no  more  of  their  names  upon  those  records.  Perhaps  most  of  them  might 
have  newly  arrived  ;  for  Governor  Winthrop  assures  us  that  not  less  than  three  thou- 
sand arrived  this  year  in  twenty  ships  ;  and  Mr,  Hubbard  tells  us  that  those  who  in- 
clined to  Baptist  principles  went  to  Providence;  others  went  to  Newport.  Seven  of 
the  first  twelve,  with  Angell,  I  suppose  began  the  settlement  with  Mr.  Williams  in 
1G3G. 


[1638.]  DEED  OF  PROVIDENCE.  75 

after  referring  to  the  former  ones,  and  expressing  that  the 
sachems^  deed  was  two  years  after  his  first  purchase,  he 
more  fully  explains  the  nature  and  motives  of  thos.e  trans- 
actions.    Says  he, — 

Notwithstanding  I  had  the  frequent  promise  of  Miantinomu,  my  kind 
friend,  that  it  should  not  be  land  that  I  should  want  about  those  bounds 
mentioned,  provided  that  I  satisfied  the  Indians  there  inhabiting,  I  having 
made  covenant  of  peaceable  neighborhood  with  all  the  sachems  and  natives 
round  about  us,  and  having,  in  a  sense  of  God's  merciful  providence  unto 
me  in  my  distress,  called  the  place  Providence,  I  desired  it  might  be  for 
a  shelter  for  persons  distressed  for  conscience  ;  I  then  considering  the  con- 
dition of  divers  of  my  distressed  countrymen,  I  communicated  my  said 
purchase  unto  my  loving  friends,  John  Throckmorton  and  others,  who  then 
desired  to  take  shelter  here  with  me And  whereas  by  God's  merci- 
ful assistance  I  was  the  procurer  of  the  purchase,  not  by  money  nor  pay- 
ment, the  natives  being  so  shy  and  jealous  that  money  could  not  do  it,  but 
by  that  language,  acquaintance  and  favor  with  the  natives,  and  other 
advantages  which  it  pleased  God  to  give  me  ;  and  also  bore  the  charges 
and  venture  of  all  the  gratuities  which  I  gave  to  the  great  sachems,  and 
other  sachems  and  natives  round  about  us,  and  lay  engaged  for  a  loving 
and  peaceable  neighborhood  with  them,  to  my  great  charge  and  travel ;  it 
was  therefore  thought  by  some  loving  friends  that  I  should  receive  some 
consideration  and  gratuity. 

Thus,  after  mentioning  the  said  thirty  pounds,  and  saying, 
"  This  sum  I  received,  in  love  to  my  friends,  and  with  respect 
to  a  town  and  place  of  succor  for  the  distressed  as  aforesaid, 
I  do  acknowledge  the  said  sum  and  payment  a  full  satisfac- 
tion ; "  he  went  on  in  full  and  strong  terms  to  confirm  those 
lands  to  said  inhabitants  ;  reserving  no  more  to  himself  and 
his  heirs  than  an  equal  share  with  the  rest;  his  wife  also 
signing  the  deed. 

I  trust  the  reader  will  excuse  the  length  of  this  account, 
when  he  considers  that  these  were  the  foundations  of  a  now 
flourishing  colony,  which  was  laid  upon  such  principles  as  no 
other  civil  government  had  ever  been,  as  we  know  of,  since 
antichrist's  first  appearance  ;  "  and  "Roger  Williams  justly 
claims  the  honor  of  having  been  the  first  legislator  in  the 


76  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

world,  in  its  latter  ages,  that  fully  and  effectually  provided 
for  and  established  a  free,  full  and  absolute  Liberty  of  Con- 
science1." 

'History  of  Providence.  [Mass.  Historical  Collections,  Second  Series,  Vol.  IX, 
p.  190.]  Massachusetts  was  so  far  from  favoring  this  cause,  that  the  General  Court 
of  March  12,  1688,  passed  this  act,  viz.  :  "  Whereas  a  letter  was  sent  unto  this  Court, 
subscribed  hy  John  Greene,  dated  from  New  Providence,  and  brought  by  one  of  that 
company,  wherein  the  Court  is  charged  with  usurping  the  power  of  Christ  over  the 
churches  and  men's  consciences,  notwithstanding  he  had  formerly  acknowledged  his 
fault  in  such  speeches  by  him  before  used ;  it  is  now  ordered,  that  the  said  John 
Greene  shall  not  come  into  this  jurisdiction,  upon  pain  of  imprisonment  and  further 
censure.  And  because  it  appears  to  this  Court  that  some  others  of  the  same  place 
are  confident  in  the  same  corrupt  judgment  and  practice,  it  is  ordered,  that  if  any 
other  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  plantation  of  Providence  shall  come  within  this 
jurisdiction,  they  shall  be  apprehended,  and  brought  before  some  of  the  magistrates, 
and  if  they  will  not  disclaim  the  said  corrupt  opinion  and  censure,  they  shall  be 
commanded  presently  to  depart,  and  if  such  persons  shall  after  be  found  within  this 
jurisdiction  they  shall  be  imprisoned,  and  punished  as  the  Court  shall  see  cause." 

Massachusetts  Records. 

Lamentable  case  indeed!  that  none  of  the  inhabitants  of  that  infant  plantation, 
who  were  not  able  to  send  out  shipping  themselves,  might  go  into  the  colony  which 
was  the  only  place  where  many  of  the  necessaries  as  well  as  comforts  of  life  were 
to  be  obtained  by  them;  but  they  must  either  be  exposed  to  dissemble,  or  to  suffer 
imprisonment,  if  not  worse ;  for  how  could  they  honestly  declare  that  the  Massa- 
chusetts did  not  usurp  a  power  over  men's  consciences  ? — B. 

We  cannot  forbear  to  add  the  oft-quoted  tribute  paid  to  Roger  Williams  by  the 
historian  Bancroft: — "  He  was  the  first  person  in  modern  Christendom  to  assert  in 
its  plenitude  the  doctrine  of  the  liberty  of  conscience,  the  equality  of  opinions  be- 
fore the  law;  and  in  its  defence  he  was  the  harbinger  of  Milton,  the  precurser  and 
the  superior  of  Jeremy  Taylor.  For  Taylor  limited  his  toleration  to  a  few  Christian 
sects  ;  the  philanthrophy  of  Williams  compassed  the  earth.  Taylor  favored  partial 
reform,  commended  lenity,  argued  for  forbearance,  and  entered  a  special  plea  in  be- 
half of  each  tolerable  sect;  Williams  would  permit  persecution  of  no  opinion,  of 
no  religion,  leaving  heresy  unharmed  by  law,  and  orthodoxy  unprotected  by  the  ter- 
rors of  penal  statutes We  praise  the  man  who  first  analyzed  the  air,  or  re- 
solved water  into  its  elements,  or  drew  the  lightning  from  the  clouds,  even  though 
the  discoveries  may  have  been  as  much  the  fruits  of  time  as  of  genius.  A  moral 
principle  has  a  much  wider  and  nearer  influence  on  human  happiness;  nor  can  any 
discovery  of  truth  he  of  more  direct  benefit  to  society,  than  that  which  establishes 
a  perpetual  religious  peace,  and  spreads  tranquillity  through  every  community  and 
every  bosom.  If  Copernicus  is  held  in  perpetual  reverence,  because,  on  his  death- 
bed, he  published  to  the  world  that  the  sun  is  the  centre  of  our  system;  if  the  name 
of  Kepler  is  preserved  in  the  annals  of  human  excellence  for  his  sagacity  in  detect- 
ing the  laws  of  the  planetary  motion ;  if  the  genius  of  Newton  has  been  almost 
adored  for  dissecting  a  ray  of  light,  and  weighing  heavenly  bodies  in  a  balance, — 
let  there  be  for  the  name  of  Roger  Williams,  at  least  some  humble  place  among 
those  who  have  advanced  moral  science  and  made  themselves  the  benefactors  of 
mankind."     Vol.  I,  pp.  375— 377.— Ed. 


[1638.]  CIVIL  COMPACT  AT  RHODE  ISLAND.  77 

None  might  have  a  voice  in  government  in  this  new  plan- 
tation, who  would  not  allow  this  liberty.  Hence  about  this 
time  I  find  the  following  town  act,  viz.:  "It  was  agreed  that 
Joshua  Verm,  upon  breach  of  covenant,  or  restraining  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  shall  be  withheld  from  the  liberty  of 
voting  till  he  shall  declare  the  contrary."  It  appears  from 
Mr.  Hubbard,  that  the  way  in  which  he  restrained  that  lib- 
erty was,  in  not  letting  his  wife  go  to  Mr.  Williams's  meet- 
ing so  often  as  she  was  called  for.  Verin  soon  removed  to 
Barbadoes,  and  left  his  interest  in  Providence  in  such  a  state 
as  has  caused  much  trouble  since. 

We  will  now  turn  to  the  affairs  of  the  Ehode  Island  peo- 
ple, who,  on  March  7,  1638,  signed  the  following  instru- 
ment : — 

We  whose  names  are  underwritten  do  swear  solemnly,  in  the  presence 
of  Jehovah,  to  incorporate  ourselves  into  a  body  politic,  and  as  he  shall 
help  us,  will  submit  our  persons,  lives  and  estates,  unto  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  to  all  those  most  perfect 
and  absolute  laws  of  his,  given  us  in  his  holy  word  of  truth,  to  be  guided 
and  judged  thereby. 

Thomas  Savage,  William  Coddington, 

William  Dyre,  John  Clarke, 

William  Freeborne,  William  Hutchinson, 

Philip  Sherman,  John  Coggshall, 

John  Walker,  William  Aspinwall, 

Richard  Carder,  Samuel  Wilbore, 

William  Baulstone,  John  Porter, 

Edward  Hutchinson,  Sen.,       Edward  Hutchinson,  Jun., 
Henry  Bull,  John  Sanford1." 

Randal  Holden, 

xColony  Records.  Of  these  William  Hutchinson  died  on'  the  island;  the  other 
Hutehinsons,  Aspinwall  and  Savage,  went  back,  got  reconciled,  and  were  promoted 
in  the  Massachusetts  colony  afterward.  Near  all  the  others  were  considerably  pro- 
moted afterward  in  Rhode  Island  colony,  and  have  posterity  still  remaining  there. 
All  but  two  of  the  above  nineteen  men  were  disarmed  by  the  sentence  of  November 
20,  1637,  viz. :  Messrs.  Coddington  and  Holden.  Messrs.  Coddington,  Coggshall, 
Baulston,  E.  Hutchinson,  Wilbore,  Porter,  Bull,  Sherman,  Freeborne  and  Carder, 
were  all  excluded  or  driven  out  of  the  Massachusetts  colony  by  an  act  of  their  As- 
sembly, on  March  12,  1638,  in  these  words,  viz.  : — 

"Whereas  you  have  desired  and  obtained  license  to  remove  yourselves  and  your 


78  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS    IX  NEW   ENGLAND. 

This  was  doubtless  in  their  view  a  better  plan  tban  any 
of  the  others  had  laid,  as  they  were  to  be  governed  by  the 
perfect  laws  of  Christ.  But  the  question  is,  how  a  civil 
polity  could  be  so  governed,  when  he  never  erected  any  such 
state  under  the  gospel?  As  much  as  they  had  been  against 
the  legal  covenant,  yet  they  now  went  back  to  the  first  or- 
der of  government  after  Israel  came  into  Canaan,  and  to  imi- 
tate it  chose  Mr.  Coddington  their  judge,  and  Messrs.  Nicholas 
Easton,  J.  Coggshall,  and  William  Brenton,  elders  to  assist 
him.  This  form  continued,  till,  on  March  12,  1640,  they 
altered  it,  and  chose  Mr.  Coddington  Governor,  Mr.  Bren- 
ton Deputy  Governor,  and  Messrs.  Easton,  Coggshall,  Wil- 
liam Hutchinson,  and  John  Porter,  Assistants,  Robert  Jef- 
fries Treasurer,  and  William  Dyre  Secretary,  which  form 
continued  till  they  received  a  charter. 

Before  we  proceed  further  upon  their  affairs,  it  may  be 

families  out  of  this  jurisdiction,  and  for  that  information  hath  been  given  to  the 
Court,  that  your  intent  is  only  to  withdraw  yourselves  for  a  season,  that  you  may 
avoid  the  censure  of  the  Court,  for  some  things  that  may  be  objected  against  you; 
the  Court  doth  therefore  signify  unto  you  that  you  may  depart  according  to  the  li- 
cense given  you,  so  as  your  families  be  removed  before  the  next  General  Court. 
But  if  your  families  be  not  so  removed,  then  you  are  to  appear  at  the  next  Court,  to 
abide  the  further  order  of  the  Court  herein."  Mr.  Nicholas  Easton,  of  Newbury, 
who  went  to  Newport,  and  Messrs.  Francis  Weston,  Richard  Waterman.  Thomas 
Olney,  and  Stukely  Westcoat,  of  Salem,  who  went  to  Providence,  were  also  in- 
cluded in  this  sentence.  Beside  these  there  were  William  Lytherland,  Robert  Ilard- 
ng,  John  Briggs,  George  Barden,  John  Odlin,  Richard  Wayte,  and  others  that  were 
disarm*  d  at  Boston,  -who  removed  into  this  colony,  and  have  left  a  respectful  re- 
membrance  therein. — B, 

Massachusetts  Records,  as  published,  give  the  name  of  but  one  Edward  Hutchin- 
son among  those  disarmed. — Ed. 

On  page  71,  the  Dumber  of  these  signers  is  given,  according  to  the  above  list  and 
that  in  the  printed  Colony  Records  of  Rhode  Island,  as  nineteen.  In  the  first  edi- 
tion it  was  printed  eighteen,  but  the  table  of  errata  at  the  close  of  volume  first  di- 
rected the  change.  In  his  Abridgment,  Backus  gives  hut  eighteen  names,  omitting 
from  this  list  that  of  Randal  Ilolden.  In  this  he  agrees  with  Callender  in  his  Cen- 
tury Sermon  and  Bopkine  in  liis  History  of  Providence.  Arnold,  in  Ids  History  of 
Rhode  Island.  (Vol.  I,  p.  124,)  explains  the  discrepancy.  "Holden's  name  is  sep- 
arated from  the  others  hy  a  line,  lie  is  believed  to  be  one  not  concerned  in  the 
purchase,  as  his  name  and  that  of  Roger  Williams  are  signed  as  witnesses  to  the 
deed.  There  were  eighteen  original  proprietors  and  nineteen  signers  of  the  com- 
pact."— Ed. 


[1638.]  RELIGIOUS  COMPULSION  AT  MASSACHUSETTS.  79 

proper  to  observe,  that  the  Assembly,  who  met  at  Boston, 
September  6,  1638,  made  the  two  following  laws: — 

1.  Whereas  it  is  found  by  sad  experience,  that  divers  persons,  who  have 
been  justly  cast  out  of  some  of  the  churches,  do  profanely  contemn  the  same 
sacred  and  dreadful  ordinance,  by  presenting  themselves  over-boldly  in  other 
assemblies,  and  speaking  lightly  of  their  censures,  to  the  great  offence  and 
grief  of  God's  people,  and  encouragement  of  evil-minded  persons  to  con- 
temn the  said  ordinance  ;  it  is  therefore  ordered,  that  whosoever  shall  stand 
excommunicated  for  the  space  of  six  months,  without  laboring  what  in  him 
or  her  lieth  to  be  restored,  such  person  shall  be  presented  to  the  Court  of 
Assistants,  and  there  proceeded  with  by  fine,  imprisonment,  banishment,  or 
further,  for  the  good  behavior,  as  their  contempt  and  obstinacy  upon  full 
hearing  shall  deserve. 

2.  The  Court  taking  into  consideration  the  necessity  of  an  equal  contri- 
bution to  all  common  charges  in  towns,  and  observing  that  the  chief  occa- 
sion of  the  defect  herein  arises  hence,  that  many  of  those  who  are  not  free- 
men, nor  members  of  auy  church,  do  take  advantage  thereby  to  withdraw 
their  help,  in  such  voluntary  contributions  as  are  in  use  ;  it  is  therefore 
hereby  declared,  that  every  inhabitant  in  any  town  is  liable  to  contribute  to 
all  charges  both  in  church  and  commonwealth  whereof  he  doth  or  may  re- 
ceive benefit ;  and  withal  it  is  also  ordered,  that  every  such  inhabitant  who 
shall  not  voluntarily  contribute  proportionably  to  his  ability  with  other  free- 
men of  the  same  town,  to  all  common  charges,  as  well  for  upholding  the 
ordinances  in  the  churches  as  otherwise,  shall  be  compelled  thereto  by 
assessment  and  distress,  to  be  levied  by  the  constable  or  other  officer  of  the 
town,  as  in  other  cases1. 

Here,  my  dear  countrymen,  let  us  make  a  little  pause. 
Not  long  since,  in  the  presence  of  a  number  of  gentlemen, 
mention  was  made  of  the  former  persecutions  in  New  Eng- 
land, upon  which  one  of  their  legislators  arose  and  said,  "  It 
is  monstrous  cruelty  and  injustice,  thus  to  rake  up  the  ashes 
of  our  good  fathers,  and  to  reproach  their  children  there- 
with, when  wre  never  think  of  those  transactions  without 
grief  and  abhorrence  !"  If  so,  why  are  those  deeds  imitated 
by  our  present  rulers  %  And  why  do  the  people  love  to  have 
it  so?  Certainly  the  support  of  good  order  and  government 
in  the  church  is  of  greater  importance  than  ministers' 
maintenance  ;  and  to  vindicate   the   methods  then  taken  to 

Massachusetts  Records. 


80  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

support  the  former  of  these,  Mr.  Cotton  brought  that  plain 
text,  "  Thou  shalt  surely  kill  him,  because  he  hath  sought 
to  thrust  thee  away  from  the  Lord  thy  God  ;"  and,  said  he, 
"  This  reason  is  of  moral,  that  is,  of  universal  and  perpetual 
equity."1  But  I  never  heard  any  man  say  so  of  that  other 
text,  "  Thou  shalt  give  it  me  now,  and  if  not,  I  will  take  it 
by  force,"  which  is  the  most  like  the  practice  of  many  in 
this  generation  of  anything  that  I  could  ever  find  in  our 
Bible.  Governor  Winthrop  informs  us,  that  the  next  May 
after  the  above  laws  were  passed,  Mr.  Cotton,  in  preaching 
from  Heb.  viii.  8,  taught  u  that  when  magistrates  are  forced 
to  proceed  for  the  maintenance  of  ministers,  &c,  then  the 
churches  are  in  a  declining  state.  Here  he  shewed  that  the 
ministers'  maintenance  should  be  by  voluntary  contribution." 
But  the  law  to  impower  their  executive  court  to  punish  ex- 
communicates, for  disregarding  the  churches'  authority,  was 
repealed  the  next  fall,  while  that  to  maintain  ministers  by 
assessment  and  distress  was  continued  in  full  force.  Their 
practice  upon  it  in  Watertown  moved  Nathaniel  Briscoe  to 
write  a  book  against  it,  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that 
he  was  brought  before  the  Quarter  Court,  at  Boston,  March 
7,  1643,  and  fined  ten  pounds.  "  John  Stowers,  for  reading 
of  divers  offensive  passages  (before  company)  out  of  a  book, 
against  the  officers  and  church  of  Watertown,  and  for  mak- 
ing disturbance  there,  was  fined  forty  shillings."  This  sev- 
erity brought  Briscoe  to  a  public  acknowledgment,  and  then 
his  fine  was  remitted  to  forty  shillings,  "  and  that  to  be 
taken."2  The  ministers  thus  left  it  to  the  secular  arm  to 
convince  him,  and  said,  "  his  arguments  were  not  worth  the 
answering ;  for  he  that  shall  deny  the  exerting  of  the  civil 
power,  to  provide  for  the  comfortable  subsistence  of  them 
that  preach  the  gospel,  fuste  pottos  erudiendus,  quam  ar<ju- 
mento,  as  they  say  of  them  that  are  wont,  negare  prhtcipia, 
let  him  that  is  taught  communicate  to  him  that  teacheth  in 

bloody  Tenet  washed,  p.  G7.  'Massachusetts  Kecords. 


[1638.]  GROUND  OF  MINISTERIAL  SUPPORT.  81 

all  good  things,1  that  is,  he  that  shall  deny  such  an  exertion 
of  power,  is  rather  to  be  taught  by  a  cudgel  than  argument, 
as  they  say  of  them  who  are  wont  to  deny  first  principles. 
But  let  us  take  heed  that  we  are  not  imposed  upon,  by  a 
confounding  of  two  things  together,  which  are  as  distinct 
in  their  nature  as  light  and  darkness,  namely  duty  itself,  and 
the  right  way  of  enforcing  it.  The  duty  of  offering  daily 
or  continual  thanksgivings  to  our  great  Creator,  and  of  a 
liberal  communication  to  Christ's  ministers  and  members, 
are  both  called  sacrifices  to  God,  in  Heb.  xiii.,  and  why  do 
our  rulers  neglect  to  enforce  the  daily  exercise  of  family 
worship,  by  the  same  sword  as  they  do  ministers'  mainte- 
nance I  Is  not  God's  honor  of  greater  concernment  than 
men's  livings  !  A  college  was  founded  this  year  in  New- 
town, and  for  that  reason  the  place  was  called*Camb ridge ;  and 
the  importance  of  receiving  learning  at  that  or  like  places,  to 
qualify  men  for  the  ministry,  has  been  much  insisted  upon 
ever  since  ;  and  those  who  have  not  been  educated  at  such 
places  have  commonly  been  called  laymen.  And  among 
the  many  reflections  that  have  been  cast  upon  them,  one  is, 
that  they  often  beg  the  question  in  argument.  But  who  are 
guilty  of  this  mean  sort  of  conduct  now]  The  question 
between  us  is  not,  whether  it  be  the  duty  of  those  who  are 
taught  to  communicate  unto  their  teachers  or  not ;  but  it  is, 
whether  that  duty  ought  to  be  enforced  by  the  sword,  or 
only  by  instruction,  persuasion  and  good  example  ?  And 
what  have  learned  ministers  ever  done  towards  proving  their 
side  of  the  question  better  than  begging  ? 

The  great  events  of  this  year  have  taken  up  considerable 
room,  yet  1  must  request  a  place  for  a  few  articles  more, 
that  will  affect  the  following  part  of  our  history.2 

Hubbard.  [412.]     Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  427.  [377.] 

2Mr.  Hansard  Knollys  came  over  in  the  spring  of  this  year,  who  was  ordained  by 

the  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  June  29,  1629;  but  he  says,  "About  the  year  1636  I 

was  prosecuted  in  the  High  Commission   Court,  by  virtue  of  a  warrant,  wherewith 

I  was  apprehended  in  Boston  (in  Lincolnshire)  and  kept  a  prisoner  in  the   man's 

6 


82  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

On  June  5,  Uncas,  the  sachem  of  the  Mohegan  Indians, 
"  having  entertained  some  of  the  Pequods,  came  to  the 
Governor  at  Boston  with  a  present,  and  was  much  dejected 
because   at  first   it   was  not  accepted ;    but   afterward,   the 

house  who  served  the  warrant  upon  me.  But  God  helped  me  to  convince  him,  and 
he  was  so  greatly  terrified  in  his  conscience,  that  he  set  open  his  doors,  and  let  me 
go  away  !  hut  hefore  I  went,  I  tarried  so  long  in  London,  waiting  for  a  passage, 
that  when  I  went  abroad  I  had  but  just  six  brass  farthings  left,  and  no  silver  nor 
gold,  only  my  wife  had  five  pounds  that  I  knew  not  of,  which  she  gave  me  when  we 
came  there.  By  the  way,  my  little  child  died  with  convulsion  fits,  our  beer  and 
water  stank,  our  biscuit  was  molded  and  rotten,  and  our  cheese  also,  so  that  we  suf- 
fered much  hardship,  being  twelve  weeks  in  our  passage ;  but  God  was  gracious  to 
us  and  led  us  safe  through  the  great  deeps  :  and  ere  we  went  on  shore  came  one 
and  enquired  for  me,  and  told  me  a  friend  that  was  gone  from  Boston  to  Rhode 
Island  had  left  me  his  house  to  sojourn  in,  and  to  which  we  went,  and  two  families 
more  with  us,  who  went  suddenly  to  their  friends  and  other  relations  in  the  country ; 
and  I  being  very  poor,  was  necessitated  to  work  daily  with  my  hoe,  for  the  space  of 
almost  three  weeks.  •  The  magistrates  were  told  by  the  ministers  that  I  was  an 
antinomian,  and  desired  they  would  not  suffer  me  to  abide  in  their  patent.  But 
within  the  time  limited  by  their  law  in  that  case,  two  strangers  coming  to  Boston 
from  Piscataqua,  hearing  of  me  by  mere  accident,  got  me  to  go  with  them  to  that 
plantation,  and  preach  there,  where  I  remained  about  four  years,  and  then  being 
sent  for  back  to  England,  by  my  aged  father,  I  returned  with  my  wife  and  one 
child,  about  three  years  old,  and  she  great  with  another.  We  came  safe  to  London 
on  the  24th  of  December,  1G41,  in  which  year  the  massacre  in  Ireland  broke  forth, 
and  the  next  year  wars  broke  forth  in  England,  between  King  and  Parliament.*1 
See  Knollys's  account  of  his  own  life.  He  embraced  the  Baptist  principles,  gathered 
a  church  of  that  persuasion  in  London,  and  used  seldom  to  have  less  than  a  thousand 
auditors.  He  baptised  Mr.  Henry  Jessey,  an  eminent  minister  in  that  city,  and 
others ;  suffered  much  for  religion,  continued  pastor  of  that  church  till  he  died  in 
London,  September  19,  1G91,  aged  93.  Crosby,  [Vol.  I,  pp.  22G— 232,  311,  334—344.] 
Though  he  was  reproached  as  an  antinomian,  yet  Dr.  Mather  says  he  had  a  "  re- 
spectful character  in  the  churches  of  this  wilderness."  Magnalia,  B.  3,  p.  7,  [Vol. 
I.  p.  221.]  After  his  return  to  England,  "  he  suffered  deeply  in  the  cause  of  non- 
conformity, being  universally  esteemed  and  beloved  by  all  his  brethren.  Neal,  Vol. 
1,  p.  216.— B. 

To  this  account  of  Hansard  Knollys  it  may  be  well  to  make  a  few  additions.  He 
was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge.  For  two  or  three  years  after  his 
admisaion  to  orders,  he  had  charge  of  a  parish  in  Humberstone,  Lincoln.  He  then 
"  began  to  scruple  the  lawfulness  of  several  ceremonies  and  usages  of  the  national 
church,  as  the  surplice,  the  cross  in  baptism,  the  admitting  wicked  persons  to  the 
Lords  Sapper,"  &e.  He  resigned  his  living,  but  for  several  years  continued  preach- 
ing in  the  established  churches,  refusing,  however,  to  read  the  service.  In  1G36 
he  publicly  joined  the  Dissenters.  Persecuted  in  England  he  fled  to  America. 
Forbidden  at  once  to  remain  in  Massachusetts  he  went  to  Piscataqua,  soon  after- 
wards called  Dover.  Here  he  met  with  immediate  opposition,  but  according  to 
Winthrop,  (Vol.  I,  p.  826,)  "he  gathered    some   of  the  best  minded  into    a  church 


[1638.]  HANSARD  KNOLLYS.  83 

Governor  and  Council  being  satisfied  about  his  innocency, 
they  accepted  it ;  whereupon  he  promised  to  submit  to  the 
orders  of  the  English,  both  touching  the  Pequods  he  had 
received,  and  as   concerning   the  differences  between   the 

body  ani  became  their  pastor."  Backus  says  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  "Mr.  Han- 
sard Knollys  was  minister  there  from  the  spring  of  1638  to  the  fall  of  1641."  The 
precise  character  of  the  church  it  is  now  impossible  to  determine.  Benedict  says, 
(General  History  of  the  Baptist  Denomination,  p.  497.)  "  The  church  at  Dover  to 
which  Mr.  Knollys  officiated  was  probably  on  the  mixed  communion  plan,  as  was 
very  common  in  those  days  in  incipient  movements  of  this  kind."  The  church  was 
traduced  from  without  and  was  rent  with  dissension  within ;  and  its  pastor  returned 
to  England.  He  was  imprisoned  in  London  for  preaching  against  infant  baptism. 
In  Suffolk,  on  one  occasion  he  was  stoned  out  of  the  pulpit,  and  on  another,  when 
he  and  the  congregation  who  had  gathered  to  hear  him  were  shut  out  of  the  church 
and  he  preached  to  them  in  the  church-yard,  he  was  arrested  and  sent  to  London 
again  as  a  prisoner.  He  afterwards  established  a  meeting  at  Great  St.  Helen's, 
London,  "  where  the  people  flocked  to  hear  him,  and  he  had  commonly  a  thousand 
auditors." 

Mr.  Knollys  was  a  Particular  or  Calvanistic  Baptist,  and  one  of  the  signers 
of  the  so-called  Confession  of  1646.  He  was  a  good  scholar,  especially  in  the 
ancient  languages,  and,  besides  his  ministerial  labors,  was  almost  constantly 
engaged  in  teaching,  and  by  this  means,  for  the  most  part,  gained  his  own  support, 
He  lived,  says  Crosby,  "to  a  good  old  age,  and  went  home  as  a  shock  of  wheat  that 
is  gathered  in  its  season,"  departing  this  life,  **  in  a  great  transport  of  joy." 

Winthrop  calls  Knollys,  a  "  weak  minister,"  and  accuses  him  of  slandering  the 
government,  and  holding  "  familistical  opinions."  Vol.  I,  pp.  291,  306,  326.  Win- 
throp's  words  were  enough  for  the  plagiarizing  and  narrow-minded  Hubbard  to  repeat 
and  build  upon,  till  he  represents  the  character  of  Knollys  as  anything  but  what  it 
should  be.  P.  369.  Savage  in  his  edition  of  Winthrop,  says  that  Knollys's  history 
in  this  country  was  "  little  creditable  to  his  morals."  Vol,  I,  p.  292,  note.  There  is 
abundant  evidence,  however,  not  only  to  vindicate  the  character  of  Knollys,  but  to 
prove  him  a  man  of  extraordinary  conscientiousness  and  piety.  See  Crosby,  Vol. 
I,  pp.  226—232,  334—344.  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  Toulmin's  edition,  Vol. 
Ill,  pp.  551 — 553. 

The  name  of  Henry  Jessey,  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  note  of  Backus,  merits  a 
more  particular  notice.  He  was  born  in  Yorkshire  in  1601.  After  studying  six 
years  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  and  being  graduated  Master  of  Arts,  he 
received  episcopal  ordination  in  1627,  and  six  years  later  became  rector  of  a  church 
in  his  native  county.  The  next  year  he  was  removed  for  nonconformity.  He  soon 
began  preaching  to  a  dissenting  congregation  in  London,  of  which,  in  1637,  he 
assumed  the  pastoral  charge.  Perceiving  that  Baptist  sentiments  were  making 
rapid  progress  in  his  congregation,  Mr.  Jessey  was  led  to  consider  them,  and  after 
"  a  diligent  and  impartial  examination  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  antiquity"  "  not 
without  great  deliberation,  many  prayers,  and  divers  conferences  with  pious  and 
learned  men  of  different  persuasions,"  was  compelled  to  embrace  them.  He  was  bap- 
tized in  1644.  The  historian,  Crosby,  says,  "It  proved  no  small  honor  and  advan- 
tage to  the   Baptists    to   have  a   man   of  such   extraordinary  piety  and   substantial , 


8-4  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Narragansetts  and  himself ;  and  confirmed  all  with  this  com- 
pliment ;  laying  his  hand  upon  his  heart  he  said  wi  this  heart 
is  not  mine,  hut  yours  ;  I  will  never  helieve  any  Indian 
against  the  English  any  more  ;"  and  so  he  cod  tinned  ever 
after.     Uncas  was  alive  and  well  in  the  year  16301 

Mr.  Cotton  had  entertained  a  favorable  opinion  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson,  and  when  she  was  upon  examination  before  the 
Court  that  banished  her,  he  was  asked  what  he  thought  of 
her  revelation  concerning  her  deliverance  1  He  replied,  "  If 
she  doth  look  for  deliverance  from  the  hand  of  God  by  his 
providence,  and  the  revelation  be  in  a  word,  or  according  to 
a  word,  I  cannot  deny  it."  Upon  which  Mr.  Endicott  said, 
11  You  give  me  satisfaction."     "  No,  no,"  said  Mr.  Dudley, 

"  he  gives  me  none  at  all You  weary  me,  and  do  not 

satisfy  me."  Mr.  Now  ell  said,  "  I  think  it  is  a  devilish  delu- 
sion." And  Governor  Winthrop  said,  "  Of  all  the  revela- 
tions that  ever  I  heard  of,  I  never  heard  the  like  ground  laid 
as  is  for  this.  The  enthusiasts  and  Anabaptists  had  never 
the  like."  Mr.  Dudley  added,  "  I  never  saw  such  revela- 
tions as  these  among  Anabaptists,  therefore  am  sorry  that 
Mr.  Cotton  should  stand  to  justify  her ;"  and  he  and  others 
of  the  Court  would  have  brought  him  upon  trial  also,  but 
the  Governor  prevented  it2. 

learning  among  them."  As  these  words  indicate,  Mr.  Jessey  was  a  man  of  exten- 
sive cultivation.  The  languages  of  the  original  Scriptures,  and  other  ancient  ori- 
ental dialects  were  his  especial  pursuit.  He  hegan  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible, 
in  which  he  was  assisted  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  the  age.  For 
many  years,  Mr.  Jessey  escaped  persecution,  largely  by  reason  of  the  respect  which 
all  were  compelled  to  pay  to  his  learning;  but  soon  after  the  restoration  he  was 
imprisoned  for  heresy  and  died  in  confinement  in  1GG3.  See  Crosby,  Vol.  I,  pp. 
307— 320.— Ed. 

'Winthrop,  [Vol.  I,  pp.  2G5,  2GG.]  Hubbard,  [255]  Mr.  Hubbard  dates  his  com- 
ing in  July,  but  I  follow  the  Governor  who  acted  in  the  affair.  Oncas'i  headquarters 
were  about  eight  miles  above  the  mouth  of  New  London  river,  on  the  west  side  of 
it.  Though  the  Mohegans  as  well  as  other  Indians,  are  greatly  diminished,  yet  a 
considerable  body  of  that  tribe  remain  there  to  this  day.  In  1741  a  remarkable 
work  of  God  was  wrought  among  them ;  a  church  of  Christian  Indians  was  after- 
wards gathered,  and  continues  there,  many  of  whom  give  great  evidence  of  true 
piety.     Mr.  Samson  Occum  is  of  that  tribe. 

*Maasaehu*ettl  History,  Vol.  II,  pp.  514,  515.   [443,  444.]— B. 

It  is  perhaps  too  much  to  say,  on  the  foundation  of  the  report  of  the  examination 


[1638.]  DIFFICULTY  WITH  MR.  COTTON.  85 

After  a  year's  consideration,  at  a  public  fast,  December 
13,  1638,  Mr.  Cotton 

Did  confess  and  bewail,  as  the  churches'  so  his  own  security  and  credu- 
lity, whereupon  so  many  and  dangerous  errors  had  gotten  up,  and  spread 
in  the  churches,  and  went  over  all  the  particulars,  and  shewed  how  he  came 
to  be  deceived  ;  the  errors  being  formed,  in  words,  so  near  the  truth  he  had 
preached,  and  the  falsehood  of  the  maiutainers  of  them  was  such,  as  they 
usually  would  deny  to  him  what  they  had  delivered  to  others.  He  acknowl- 
edged that  such  as  had  been  seducers  of  others  (instancing  in  some  of  those 
of  Rhode  Island,  though  he  named  them  not)  had  been  justly  banished  ; 
yet  he  said  such  as  only  had  been  misled,  and  others  who  had  done  any 
thing  out  of  misguided  conscience  (not  being  grossly  evil)  should  be  borne 
withal,  and  first  referred  to  the  church,  and  if  that  could  not  heal  them, 
they  should  rather  be  imprisoned  or  fined  than  banished,  it  being  likely  that 

no  other  church  would  receive  them If  he  were  not  convinced,  yet 

he  was  persuaded  to  an  amicable  compliance  with  the  other  ministers,  by  a 
studious  abstaining  on  his  part  from  all  expressions  that  were  like  to  be 
offensive  ;  for  although  it  was  thought  he  did  still  retain  his  own  sense,  and 
enjoy  his  own  apprehension,  in  all  or  most  of  the  things  then  controverted 
(as  is  manifest  by  some  expressions  of  his  in  a  treatise  of  the  new  cove- 
nant, since  published  by  Mr.  Thomas  Allen,  of  Norwich)yet  was  there  an 
healing  of  the  breach  that  had  been  between  him  and  the  rest  of  the  eld- 
ers, and  a  putting  a  stop  to  the  course  of  errors  in  the  country  for  the  fu- 
ture  By  that  means  did  that  reverend  and  worthy  minister  of  the 

gospel  recover  his  former  splendor  throughout  the  country  of  New  Eng- 
land1. 

in  Hutchinson's  History,  that  the  Court  would  have  brought  Mr.  Cotton  upon  trial 
but  for  the  Governor.  That  which  most  nearly  accords  with  this  statement  is  the 
following : — 

Deputy  Governor.  "  I  never  saw  such  revelations  as  these  among  the  Anabap- 
tists, therefore   am   sorry  that  Mr.  Cotton  should  stand  to  justify  her." 

Mr.  Peters.  "  I  can  say  the  same,  and  this  runs  to  enthusiasm,  and  I  think  that 
is  very  disputable  which  our  brother  Cotton  hath  spoken." 

Mr.  Collicct.  "  It  is  a  great  burden  to  us  that  we  differ  from  Mr.  Cotton,  and 
that  he  should  justify  these  revelations.  I  would  entreat  him  to  answer  concerning 
that  about  the  destruction  of  England." 

Governor.  "Mr,  Cotton  is  not  called  to  answer  to  anything,  but  we  are  to  deal 
with  the  party  here  standing  before  us."     Ibid. — Ed. 

xWinthrop,  [Vol.  I,  p.  280]— Hubbard,  [297,  302.]  Roger  Harlakenden,  one  of 
the  magistrates,  died  at  Cambridge,  November  17,  this  year.  Winthrop,  [Vol.  I, 
p,  277.]  Near  the  same  time  a  church  was  gathered  at  Exeter,  on  Piscataqua  river, 
and  soon  after  Mr.  Wheelwright,  at  his  and  their  request,  was  dismissed  with  others 
to  it,  from  the  church  of  Boston,  and  became  their  minister.  Hubbard.  These  facts 
help  to  discover  the  spirit  of  those  times. 


86  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

This  year,  upon  an  occurrence,  Governor  Winthrop  wrote 
to  Mr.  Clarke  at  Aquetneck,  and  styled  him,  "  A  physician 
and  a  preacher  to  those  of  that  island." 

We  are  now  come  to  an  event  which  has :  made  much 
noise  in  the  world,  I  mean  Mr.  Williams's  baptism.  The 
reader  may  remember  that  he  was  charged  with  advancing 
principles  at  Plymouth  that  tended  to  anabaptism,  and  that 
he  filled  Salem  therewith  ;  and  could  he  have  found  an 
agreeable  administrator,  it  is  not  likely  that  he  would  have 
neglected  the  putting  of  this  principle  into  practice  so  long 
as  he  did.  At  length,  being  in  such  a  state  of  exile  in  a 
heathen  land,  it  is  probable  he  concluded  that  the  case  about 
baptism,  which  Mr.  Robinson  recites,  was  applicable  to 
theirs,  which  is  in  these  words  : — 

Zanchy,  upon  the  fifth  to  the  Ephesians,  treating  of  baptism,  propounds 
a  question  of  a  Turk  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  to  faith,  by 
reading  the  New  Testameut,  and  withal  teaching  his  family,  and  convert- 
ing it  and  others  to  Christ ;  and  being  in  a  country  whence  he  cannot  easily 
come  to  Christian  churches,  whether  he  may  baptize  them,  whom  he  had 
converted  to  Christ,  he  himself  being  unbaptized?  He  answers,  I  doubt 
not  of  it  but  that  he  may,  and  withal  provide,  that  he  himself  be  baptized 
of  one  of  the  three  converted  by  him.  The  reason  he  gives  is,  because  he 
is  a  minister  of  the  word  extraordinarily  stirred  up  of  Christ.  And  so  as 
such  a  minister  may,  with  the  consent  of  that  small  church,  appoint  one  of 
the  communicants,  and  provide  that  he  be  baptized  by  him.1 

Mr.  Williams  took  such  a  method,  with  only  this  differ- 
ence, that  one  of  the  community  was  first  appointed  to  bap- 
tize him,  and  then  he  baptized  the  rest;  for  Mr.  Hubbard 
says,  he  "  was  baptized  by  one  Holliman,2  then  Mr.  Williams 

Hiobinson's  answer  to  Bernard,  p.  422.  [447  ] 

This  is  the  Ezekiel  Holliman  mentioned  on  page  74.  We  should  not  deem  it 
needful  to  notice  this,  if  an  error  in  Cramp's  Baptist  History,  pp.  461,  .r>!i4,  had  not 
given  the  name,  Thomas.  As  has  been  stated,  (p.  74,  note.)  Holliman  did  not  leave 
Massachusetts  till  1688.  In  the  Records  of  the  General  Court  for  that  year  are  the 
words,  "  K/.ekiel  Holliman,  appearing  upon  summons,    because  he  did  not  frequent 

the  public  assemblies,  and  for  seducing  many,  he  was  referred  by  the  Court  to  the 
ministers  for  conviction."  He  seems  to  have  been  a  leading  man  in  Providence 
and  afterwards  in  Warwick,  and  held  various  positions  of  trust. — Ed. 


[1639.]  BAPTISM    OF    ROGER  WILLIAMS.  87 

rebaptized  him,  and  some  ten  more."  With  this  Governor 
Winthrop  agrees,  and  sets  the  date  of  it  in  March,  1639. 
The  Governor  called  Holliman  a  poor  man,  and  Hubbard 
styles  him  a  mean  fellow  ;  but  after  the  year  1650,  I  find 
him  more  than  once  a  deputy  from  the  town  of  Warwick  in 
their  General  Court.  The  above  gentlemen  represent  that 
Mrs.  Hutchinson's  sister,  the  wife  of  one  Scott,  stirred  Mr. 
Williams  up  to  this  action ;  though  afterward  Mr.  Hubbard 
does  not  pretend  to  certainty  as  to  that,  and  says  it  was  diffi- 
cult for  one  to  give  an  exact  account  of  their  religious  affairs 
in  that  colony,  that  did  not  live  among  them.  It  is  certain 
that  he  and  the  Governor  were  both  mistaken  in  calling 
"  those  of  Providence  all  Anabaptists  ;"  for  it  appears  from 
under  Mr.  Williams's  own  hand,  seventeen  years  after,  that 
Arnold  and  Carpenter,  two  of  the  first  twelve,  were  not 
such  j1  neither  have  I  met  with  any  proof  that  Gorton,  Wes- 
ton or  Waterman,  who  went  to  Warwick,  were  ever  of  that 
denomination.2 

xMassachusetts  History,  Vol.  3,  p.  277.  [310.]— B. 

The  document  here  referred  to,  is  a  letter  from  Roger  Williams  to  the  colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  complaining  that,  under  the  name  of  that  colony,  four  persons 
in  Pawtuxet  were  obstructing  all  law  and  order  in  the  Providence  Plantations. 
Massachusetts  is  especially  appealed  to  in  reference  to  two  of  the  four.  One, 
Stephen  Arnold,  was  manifesting  a  better  spirit,  and  "  desired  to  be  uniform"  with 
those  in  Providence,  "  Zecharie  Rhodes"  says  the  letter,  "  being  in  the  way  of 
dipping,  is  (potentially)  banished  from  you.  Only  William  Arnold  and  William 
Carpenter,  very  far  also  in  religion  from  you  if  you  know  all,  they  have  some 
color,"  that  is,  some  pretext  of  protection  from  Massachusetts.  It  is  a  fair  infer- 
ence that  Arnold  and  Carpenter  were  not  Baptists. — Ed. 

2This  Baptist  Church  at  Providence  appears  to  be  the  second  distinct  society  of 
that  denomination  in  all  the  British  empire.  There  had  been  many  of  them  inter- 
mixed with  other  societies  from  their  first  coming  out  of  popery,  but  the  first  dis- 
tinct church  in  our  nation  was  formed  out  of  the  Independent  church  in  London, 
whereof  Mr.  Henry  Jacob  was  pastor  from  1616  to  1624,  when  he  went  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  Mr.  John  Lothrop  was  chosen  in  his  room.  Prince's  Chronology,  [225.] 
But  nine  years  after,  "  several  persons  in  the  society,  finding  that  the  congregation 
kept  not  to  their  first  principles  of  separation,  and  being  also  convinced  that  baptism 
was  not  to  be  administered  to  infants,  but  such  only  as  professed  faith  in  Christ, " 
desired  and  obtained  liberty,  and  formed  themselves  into  a  distinct  church,  Sept.  12, 
1633,  having  Mr.  John  Spilsbury  for  their  minister.  A  second  Baptist  church  was 
constituted  in  London  this  year,  but  I  believe  later  in  the  year  than  ours  at  Provi- 
dence. Crosby's  History,  Vol.  1,  pp.  148,  149.    Mr.  Lothrop  came  over  to  Boston  in 


88  HISTORY  OF  THE  B.\PTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Before  this  time  Mr.  Peters  had  become  minister  of  Salem, 
and  he  wrote  to  the  church  of  Dorchester  on  July  1,  this 
year,  to  acquaint  them  that  their  "  great  censure"  was  past 
upon  l\oger  Williams  and  his  wife,  John  Throgmorton  and 
his  wife,  Thomas  Olney  and  his  wife,  Stukely  Westcoat  and 
his  wife,  Mary  Ilolliman,  and  the  widow  Reeves,  and  that 
all  but  two  of  these  were  rebaptized.1 

Besides  the  above  men,  we  are  well  informed  that  William 
Wickenden,  Chad  Brown,  and  Gregory  Dexter,  were  of  this 
Baptist  church  in  Providence,  and  in  1765,  Governor  Hop- 
kins, who  is  not  a  Baptist,  said,  "  This  first  church  of  Bap- 
tists at  Providence  hath  from  its  beginning  kept  itself  in 
repute,  and  maintained  its  discipline  to  this  day ;  hath 
always  been,  and  still  is,  a  numerous  congregation,  and  in 
which  I  have  with  pleasure  observed  very  lately  sundry 
descendants  from  each  of  the  above  named  founders, except 
Holliman."2     It  seems  he  removed  away. 

I  am  sensible  that  this  testimony  is  very  different  from  the 
accounts  of  many  New  England  historians,  who  represent 
that  the  church  soon  broke  up,  because  Mr.  Williams  did 
not  walk  long   with  it.     His  stop   in  that  travel    Governor 

1634,  was  minister  a  while  at  Scituate,  and  then  at  Barnstable.  Winthrop,  [Vol. 
I,  pp.  143,  144.]  Prince,  [225.]— B. 

Crosby  states  that  the  church  "  commonly  but  most  falsely  called  Anabaptists," 
wbich  John  Smith  had  founded  in  Holland,  removed  in  1014,  with  their  pastor,  Mr. 
Helwisse,  to  London,  "  where  they  continued  their  church  state  and  assemblies  for 
worship  as  publicly  as  the  evil  of  the  times  would  permit.."  Vol.  I,  pp.  271.  272. 
Mr.  Helwisse  and  his  church  were  General  Baptists,  as  is  proved  by  their  Confes- 
sion of  Faith ;  (Hansard  Knollys  Society,  Confessions  of  Faith,  &C,  pp.  3 — 10,) 
though  Crosby  not  having  seen  their  Confession  of  Faith  when  he  wrote-  his  first 
volume,  supposed  them  to  be  Particular  Baptists.  Crosby,  Vol.1,  pp.  270,271. 
Taylor  in  bis  History  of  the  English  General  Baptists,  quoted  by  Guild,  (Biographi- 
cal Introduction  to  the  writings  of  Koger  Williams,  Publications  of  the  Xarragan- 
sett  Club,  vol.  I,  p.  36,  note,)  "  Mates  that  they  formed  distinct  societies  and  had 
regular  church  officers  twenty-five  years  prior"  to  the  date  of  the  founding  of  Mr. 
Spilsbury'l  church.  That  this  was  the  first  Particular  Baptist  church  in  the  Brit- 
ish empire  may  be  true.—  ESd. 

'Ma.vsaelmsi'tts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  421.      [371.] 

'History  of  Providence.  Olney  and  Dexter  were  much  improved  in  their  day  in 
public  offices  in  the  colony. 


[1639.]  WILLIAMS  LEAVES  THE  CHURCH.  89 

Winthrop  mentions  in  July  following ;  and  Richard  Scott, 
who  afterward  turned  to  the  Quakers,  says, — 

I  walked  with  him  in  the  Baptists'  way  about  three  or  four  months,  in 
which  time  he  brake  from  the  society,  and  declared  at  large  the  ground 
and  reasons  of  it ;  that  their  baptism  could  not  be  right  because  it  was  not 
administered  by  an  apostle.  After  that  he  set  upon  a  way  of  seeking 
(with  two  or  three  of  them  that  had  dissented  with  him)  by  way  of  preach- 
ing and  praying  ;  and  there  he  continued  a  year  or  two,  till  two  of  the 
three  left  him.  That  which  took  most  with  him  was  to  get  honor  amongst 
men.  After  his  society  and  he  in  a  church  way  were  parted,  he  then  went 
to  England,  and  there  got  a  charter  ;  and  coming  from  Boston  to  Provi- 
dence, at  Seaconk,  the  neighbors  of  Providence  met  him  with  fourteen 
canoes,  and  carried  him  to  Providence.  And  the  man  being  hemmed  in 
the  middle  of  the  canoes,  was  so  elevated  and  transported  out  of  himself, 
that  I  was  condemned   in  myself,  that    amongst  the  rest  I  had  been    an 

instrument  to  set  him  up  in  his  pride  and  folly Though  he  professed 

liberty  of  consience,  and  was  so  zealous  for  it  at  the  first  coming  home  of 
the  charter,  that  nothing  in  government  must  be  acted  till  that  was  granted  ; 
yet  he  could  be  the  forwardest  in  their  government  to  prosecute  against 
those  that  could  not  join  with  him  in  it ;  as  witness  his  presenting  of  it  to 
the  Court  at  Newport.1 

Thus  Quakers,  as  well  as  paedobaptists,  could  cast  out 
hard  reflections  against  him ;  whether  justly  or  not,  the 
reader,  when  he  has  heard  the  whole  story  will  judge.  At 
present  I  would  only  remark,  that  this  man  had  been  Mr. 
Williams's  neighbor  thirty-eight  years  when  he  wrote  this 
letter,  and  the  spirit  of  it  fully  proves  that  he  was  not  pre- 
judiced at  all  in  his  or  the  Baptists'  favor ;  yet  the  facts 
according  to  him  were,  that  but  two  or  three  persons  went 
off  with  Mr.  Williams,  leaving  the  rest  in  a  church  way 
still ;  neither  does  he  say  a  word  of 'Mr.  Williams's  expect- 
ing to  be  an  apostle  himself.  Indeed  as  to  that  point,  Mr. 
Hubbard  goes  no  further  than  to  say,  "  expecting  (as  was 
supposed)  to  become  an  apostle ;"  and  Governor  Winthrop 
has  the  same  parenthesis ;  so  that  it  was  no  more  than 
a  suppostion  in  that  day  ;  but  a  late  historian  has  delivered 

Scott's  letter  in  George  Fox's  answer  to  Williams,  1677,  p.  247. 


90  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS    IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

it  off  as  fact,  without  the  parenthesis  ;  and  Dr.  Mather  from 
his  grandfather  Cotton,  says,  they  "  broke  forth  into  anabap- 
tism,  and  then  to  antibaptism  and  familism,  and  now  finally 
into  no  church  at  all.1  Such  naked  untruths  have  one  gene- 
ration after  another  told  about  these  people  ! 

An  evident  cause  of  Mr.  Williams's  refraining  from  a 
farther  proceeding  in  church  ordinances,  was  an  apprehen- 
sion of  the  necessity  of  a  visible  succession  of  regular 
ordinations  from  the  apostles,  to  empower  men  to  it,  which 
succession  he  could  not  find.  Yet  how  fond  are  many  min- 
isters in  our  day  of  this  successive  notion  ?  A  minister's 
preaching  upon  it  was  vindicated  in  the  Boston  Evening 
Post  of  May  9,  1774,  which  informs  us  that  the  preacher 
said, — "  God  the  Father  sent  forth  the  Son  ;  he  sent  forth 
the  apostles  as  the  Father  sent  him  ;  they  sent  forth  others, 
wTith  command  to  commit  these  things  to  faithful  men.  And 
the  preacher  said  that  Christ  had  never  committed  this 
power  (to  put  into  office)  to  any  but  such  as  were  in  office ; 
and  consequently  no  other  had  a  power  to  put  out  of  office." 
But  I  am  not  afraid  boldly  to  assert,  that  I  verily  believe, 
according  to  this  doctrine,  that  there  is  not  a  minister  this 
day  under  heaven  but  what  must  stop  from  administering 
baptism,  as  Mr.  Williams  did,  if  he  is  as  honest  as  he  was. 
A  minister  in  Connecticut  a  few  years  ago  published  a  pam- 
phlet to  support  the  above  opinion  ;  wherein,  to  get  over 
the  difficulty  that  arises  for  want  of  any  proof  of  such  a 
lineal  succession,  he  observed  that  none  under  the  law  were 
to  be  priests  but  the  lawful  posterity  of  Aaron,  yet  suppos- 
ing a  bastard  son  of  that  family  should  have  posterity,  in  so 
long  a  succession  that  the  knowledge  of  his  illegitimacy 
was  lost,  he  asserted  that  such  priests  might  well  be  admit- 
ted into  office  with  others.  According  to  which  doctrine, 
knowledge  must  be  very  detrimental  to  such  priests,  and 
ignorance  must  be  the  mother  of  such  devotion.     The  min- 

'Magnalia,  B.  7,  p.  9.  [Vol.  II,  p.  433.] 


[1639.]  APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION.  91 

ister  who  published  said  pamphlet  is  a  trustee  of  Yale 
College  ;  and  likely  he  is  better  acquainted  with  philosophy 
and  school  divinity  than  he  is  with  his  Bible,  or  else  he 
would  have  known  that  Ezra  the  priest,  a  scribe  of  the  law 
of  the  God  of  heaven  (in  distinction  from  earthly  gods) 
refused  to  admit  or  suffer  men  upon  negatives  ;  and  such  as 
sought  but  could  not  find  "their  register,"  were,  "as  pol- 
luted, put  from  the  priesthood."  Ezra  ii.  62.  And  if  we 
review  the  text1  that  is  now  so  much  harped  upon,  we  shall 
find  that  the  apostolic  succession  is  in  the  line  of  i;  faithful 
men ;"  and  no  others  are  truly  in  it,  though  false  brethren 
have  sometimes  crept  in  unawares. 

Mr.  John  Spilsbury,  pastor  of  the  first  Baptist  church  in 
London,  says, — 

Because  some  think  to  shut  up  the  ordinance  of  God  in  such  a  strait, 
that  none  can  come  by  it  but  through  the  authority  of  the  popedom  of 
Rome  ;  let  the  reader  consider  who  baptized  John  the  Baptist  before  he 
baptized  others,  and  if  no  man  did,  then  whether  he  did  not  baptize  others, 
he  himself  being  unbaptized.  We  are  taught  b)  this  what  to  do  on  the 
like  occasions.  I  fear  men  put  more  than  is  of  right  due  to  it,  that  so  pre- 
fer it  above  the  church,  and  all  other  ordinances  ;  for  they  can  assume  and 
erect  a  church,  take  in  and  cast  out  members,  elect  and  ordain  officers,  and 
administer  the  supper,  and  all  anew,  without  looking  after  succession,  any 
further  than  the  Scriptures  ;  but  as  for  baptism,  they  must  have  that  suc- 
cessively from  the  apostles,  though  it  comes  through  the  hands  of  Pope 
Joan.  What  is  the  cause  of  this,  that  men  can  do  all  from  the  Word  but 
only  baptism  ?2 

The  learned  Mr.  John  Tombes  also  in  that  day  produced 
the  foregoing  passage  from  Zanchy,  for  the  same  purpose 
that  I  have  now  done3. 

I  would  just  add,  that  though  the  express  rule  to  Israel 
was,  that  every  male  must  needs  be  circumcised  at  eight  days 
old,  or  be  cut  off  from  his  people,  yet  this  general  rule  was 
so  far  dispensed  with  in  a  particular  case,  that  circumcision 

JII  Tim.  ii.  2.— Ed. 

'Crosby,  Vol.  I,  pp.  103,  104.  3Crosby,  Vol.  I,  pp.  104,  105. 


92  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

was  omitted  forty  years  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  multitudes  of 
them  stood  before  God,  and  entered  into  or  renewed  their 
father  Abraham's  covenant  in  the  plains  of  Moab,  who  yet 
were  not  circumcised  till  after  they  came  over  Jordan. 
Deut.  xxix.  ;  Joshua  v.  4 — 7.  But  the  Christian  church 
had  been  through  a  worse  wilderness  than  that  of  Arabia, 
between  the  apostolic  age  and  that  we  are  now  treating  of; 
therefore  that  ancient  example  seems  to  give  light  in  the  case 
before  us. 

Mr.  Pelatiah  Mason,  who  was  born  near  Providence  Ferry 
in  1669,  told  his  sons  (three  of  whom  are  now  public 
preachers  in  Swanzey)  that  he  heard  from  the  fathers  of  that 
day,  that  in  the  trial  they  then  had,  they  heard  that  the 
Queen  of  Hungary,  or  some  in  those  parts,  had  a  register 
of  a  regular  succession  from  the  apostles,  and  they  had 
thoughts  of  sending  Mr.  Thomas  Olney  (who  succeeded  Mr. 
Williams  as  their  pastor)  into  that  country  for  it ;  but  at 
length  concluded  that  such  a  course  was  not  expedient,  but 
believing  they  were  now  got  into  the  right  way,  determined 
to  persevere  therein. 

Mr.  Hubbard  speaking  of  that  colony  says  : — 

As  to  matters  of  religion,  it  was  hard  to  give  an  exact  account  to  the 
world  of  their  proceedings  therein,  by  any  who  have  not  been  conversant 
with  them  from  the  beginning  of  their  plantations  ;  yet  this  was  commonly 
said  by  all  that  ever  had  any  occasion  to  be  among  them,  that  they  always 
agreed  in  this  principle,  that  no  man  or  company  of  men  ought  to  be  mo- 
lested by  the  civil  power  upon  the  account  of  religion,  or  for  any  opinion 
received  or  practiced  in  any  matter  of  that  nature  ;  accounting  it  no  small 
part  of  their  happiness  that  they  may  therein  be  left  to  their  own  liberty ; 
by  which  means  the  inhabitants  are  of  many  different  persuasions.  But 
what  tendency  that  liberty  had,  by  so  long  experience,  towards  the  pro- 
moting of  the  power  of  godliness,  and  purity  of  religion,  they  are  best  able 
to  judge  that  have  had  occasion  to  be  most  conversant  amongst  them1. 

By  this  and  many  other  passages,  that  learned  writer,  as 
well  as  Governor  Winthrop,  discovered  more  candor  of  mind 

'Hubbard,  pp.  335,  33C— Ed.  ' 


[1639.]  PUNISHMENTS  ON  ACCOUNT  OF  RELIGION.  93 

toward  Mr.  Williams  and  Rhode  Island  colony,  than  almost 
any  other  of  the  Massachusetts  writers  have  ever  done,  first 
or  last.  Mr.  Hubbard  says,  that  at  Rhode  Island  "they 
gathered  a  church,  but  in  a  very  disordered  way ;  taking  in 
some  excommuuicate  persons,  and  others  which  were  mem- 
bers of  the  church  of  Boston,  but  not  dismissed ;  ....  yet 
had  they  afterwards  one  Mr.  Clarke  for  their  minister,  who 
had  been  bred  to  learning." 

At  the  General  Court  at  Boston,  March  13,  1639,  acts 
were  passed  as  follows: — 

John  Smith  for  disturbing  the  public  peace,  by  combining  with  others  to 
hinder  the  orderly  gathering  of  a  church  at  "Weymouth,  and  to  set  up 
another  there,  contrary  to  the  orders  here  established,  and  the  constant 
practice  of  all  our  churches,  and  for  undue  procuring  the  hands  of  many 
to  a  blank  for  that  purpose,  is  fined  twenty  pounds  and  committed  during 
the  pleasure  of  the  Court  or  the  Council. 

Richard  Silvester,  for  going  with  Smith  to  get  hands  to  a  blank,  was 
disfranchised  and  fined  forty  shillings. 

Ambrose  Morton,  [Marten],  for  calling  the  church  covenant  a  stinking 
carrion,  and  a  human  invention,  and  saying  he  wondered  at  God's  patience, 
feared  it  would  end  in  the  sharp,  and  said  the  ministers  did  dethrone  Christ 
and  set  up  themselves  ;  he  was  fined  ten  pounds  and  counselled  to  go  to 
Mr.  Mather  to  be  instructed  by  him.1  Thomas  Mackpeace,  because  of 
his  novel  disposition,  was  informed  we  were  weary  of  him  unless  he  re- 
formed.2 

The  fourth  of  the  2d  month  was  thought  fit  for  a  day  of  humiliation, 
to  seek  the  face  of  God,  and  reconciliation  with  him  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  iu  all  the  churches.  Novelties,  oppression,  atheism,  excess,  super- 
fluity, idleness,  contempt  of  authority,  and  troubles  in  other  parts,  to  be 
remembered. 

Mr.  Robert  Lenthal,  upon  his  free  acknowledgment  under  his  hand, 
given  into  the  Court,  was  appointed  to  appear  at  the  next  Court,  and 
enjoined  to  acknowledge  his  fault  and  give  satisfaction   to  the  church  at 

'Mr.  Richard  Mather,  of  Dorchester. 

2With  this  deserves  to  be  quoted  a  record  of  the  next  Court,  Dec.  1, 1640  : — "Mr. 
Thomas  Lechford,  acknowledging  that  he  had  overshot  himself  and  is  sorry  for  it, 
promising  to  attend  to  his  calling  and  not  to  meddle  with  controversies,  was  dis- 
missed."— Ed. 


94  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Weymouth,  and  to  give  a  copy  of  that  he  gave  into  the  Court  to  the  church 
of  Weymouth.1 

John  Smith  and  John  Spur  are  bound  in  forty  pounds  to  pay  twenty 
pounds  the  first  day  of  the  next  Court.* 

Mr.  Lcnthal  went  to  Rhode  Island,  was  admitted  a  free- 
man there  on  August  6,  1640  ;  and  he  kept  school  and 
preached  there  for  a  while,  but  before  March,  1*642,  went 
back  to  England.  The  first  settlement  of  the  island  began 
the  same  spring  they  purchased  it ;  the  second  the  spring 
after;  the  latter  of  which  was  named  Newport,  on  May  16, 
1639  ;  the  other  was  called  Portsmouth,  at  a  General  Court, 
March  12,  1640. 

At  a  General  Court  at  Boston,  October,  7, 1640,  the  follow- 
ing was  enacted  : — 

It  is  ordered,  that  the  letter  lately  sent  to  the  Governor  by  Mr.  Eaton, 
Mr.  Hopkins,  Mr.  Haynes,  Mr.  Coddingtou,  and  Mr.  Breuton,  but  coming 
also  to  the  General  Court,3  shall  be  thus  answered  by  the  Governor,  that 
the  Court  doth  assent  to  all  the  propositions  laid  down  in  the  aforesaid 
letter,  but  that  the  answer  shall  be  directed  to  Mr.  Eaton,  Mr.  Hopkins  and 
Mr.  Hayues  only,  excluding  Mr.  Coddington  and  Mr.  Brenton,  as  men  not 
to  be  capitulated  withal  by  us,  either  for  themselves  or  the  people  of  the 
island  where  they  inhabit,  as  their  case  staudeth.4 

'Mr.  Lenthal  was  a  minister  whom  the  people  of  Weymouth  had  invited  to  visit 
them  with  the  purpose  of  calling  him  to  become  their  pastor.  Winthrop,  Vol.  I,  p 
287.— Ed. 

Massachusetts  Records.  Their  crime  was  this,  Mr.  Lenthal  held,  "  that  only 
baptism  was  the  door  of  entrance  into  the  visible  church ;  the  common  sort  of  peo- 
ple did  eagerly  embrace  his  opinion,  and  some  labored  to  get  such  a  church  on 
foot,  as  all  baptized  ones  might  communicate  in,  without  any  further  trial  of  them. 
For  this  end  they  procured  many  hands  in  Weymouth  to  a  blank,  intending  to  have 
Mr.  Lenthal'a  advice  to  the  form  of  the  call Mr.  Lenthal,  having  before  con- 
ferred with  some  of  the  magistrates  and  ministers,  did  openly  and  freely  retract. 
....  So  the  Court  forbore  any  further  censure,  though  it  was  mueli  urged  by 
some."  Iluhbard,  [275.]  The  next  Court,  Smith  was  lined  five  pounds  more  for 
contempt;  but  upon  making  his  submission,  and  presenting  his  money,  he  got  re- 
leased by  paying  fifteen  pounds.     Massachusetts  Records. — li. 

This  was  not  the  last  time  that  John  Spur  was  called  to  sutler  as  a  Baptist.  In 
Chap.  IV,  we  shall  find  him  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  forty  shillings  or  to  be 
whipped  for  the  crime  of  shaking  hands  with  Obadiah  Holmes  as  the  latter  came 
from  the  whipping  post.  —  En. 

The  published  Records  read,  "but  concerning  also  the  General  Court." — Ed. 

'Maasachasettl  lit  cords.  They  at  this  Court  granted  to  Mr.  John  Winthrop, 
junior,  all  their  right  to  Fisher's  Island,  which  still  belongs  to  his  posterity. 


[1640.]  MR.  CHAUNCY  RENOUNCES  INFANT  BAPTISM.  95 

Eaton  was  of  New  Haven,  the  other  of  Connecticut,  which 
had  no  more  of  a  charter  from  England  than  Rhode  Island 
had  ;  therefore  it  was  a  difference  about  religious  affairs  that 
caused  this  partiality. 

Our  neighbors  of  Plymouth  had  procured  from  hence1  this  year  one  Mr. 
Chauncy,  a  great  scholar  and  a  godly  man,  intending  to  call  him  to  the 
office  of  a  teacher ;  but  before  the  fit  time  came,  he  discovered  his  judg- 
ment about  baptism,  that  the  children  ought  to  be  dipped,  and  not  sprinkled. 
....  There  arose  much  trouble  about  it.  The  magistrates  and  the  elders 
there,  and  the  most  of  the  people,  withstood  the  reviving  [receiving]  of 
that  practice,  not  for  itself  so  much  as  for  fear  of  worse  consequences  ;  as 
the  annihilating  our  baptism,  &c.  Whereupon  the  church  there  wrote  to 
all  the  other  churches,  both  here  and  at  Connecticut,  &c.  for  advice,  and 
sent  Mr.  Chauncy's  arguments.  The  churches  took  them  into  considera- 
tion, and  wTrote  [their]  several  answers,  wherein  they  shewed  their  dissent 
from  him,  and  clearly  confuted  all  his  arguments  ;  .  .  .  .  yet  he  could  not 
give  over  his  opinion  ;  and  the  church  of  Plymouth,  ....  being  much 
taken  with  his  able  parts,  were  very  loth  to  part  with  him.  He  did  main- 
tain also  that  the  Lord's  Supper  ought  to  be  administered  in  the  evening, 
and  every  Lord's  day.  And  the  church  at  Sandwich  (where  one  Mr.  Lev- 
eridge  was  minister)  fell  into  the  practice  of  it.  But  that  being  a  matter 
of  no  great  ill  cousequence,  save  some  outward  inconvenience,  there  was 
little  stir  about  it.  This  Mr.  Chauncy  was  after  called  to  office  in  the 
church  of  Scituate2. 

At  a  Quarter  Court  at  Boston,  December  1,  it  is  re- 
corded : — 

The  jury  found  Hugh  Buet  to  be  guilty  of  heresy,  and  that  his  person 
and  errors  are  dangerous  for  infection  oi  others.  It  is  ordered  that  the 
said  Hugh  Buet  should  be  gone  out  pf  our  jurisdiction  by  the  24th  present, 
upon  pain  of  death,  and  not  to  return  upon  pain  of  being  hanged. 

This  is  the  first  instance  that  I  find  upon  che  Massachu- 
setts records  of  banishment  for  heresy  upon  this  penalty. 
Two  years  before  they  banished  three  persons  at  once,  on 
pain  of  death,  for  adultery.  The  records  give  no  account  of 
what  Buet's  heresy  was,  but  Governor  Winthrop  says,  it  was 

England. — Ed. 

2Winthrop's  Journal,  [Vol.  I,  pp.  330,  331.] 


96  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

"  for  holding  he  was  free  from  original  sin,  and  from  actual 
also,  for  half  a  year  before,  and  for  holding  that  true  Chris- 
tians are  enabled  to  live  without  committing  actual  sin1." 

The  learned  and  pious  Mr.  Henry  Dunstar  came  over  this 
summer,  and  on  August  27,  was  chosen  President  of  Har- 
vard College,  which  flourished  under  his  care  and  influence 
fourteen  years  ;  till  having  openly  renounced  infant  baptism, 
such  a  temper  *  as  manifested  against  him  on  that  account, 
that  he  resigned  that  office2.  About  this  time  it  appears 
by  Mr.  Hooker's  letters,  that  many  inclined  toward  the  Bap- 
tist way,  and  he  expressed  his  apprehensions  that  the  num- 
ber would  increase3;  which  it  seems  moved  him  to  "  resolve 
that  he  would  have  an  argument  able  to  remove  a  mountain 
before  he  would  recede  from  "  infant  baptism.  This  resolu- 
tion Mr.  Mitchell,  thirteen  years  after,  adopted  from  him,  as 
a  shield  against  Mr.  Dunstar's  arguments4. 

The  estate  of  Mr.  Humphry,  one  of  their  magistrates,  be- 
ing much  impaired,  he  sold  his  plantation  at  Lynn  to  the 
Lady  Moody,  and  returned  to  England5.  She  soon  embraced 
the  Baptist  principles,  and  suffered  therefor.  And  divers  of 
those  at  Aquidneck6  turned  professed  Anabaptists7.  Mr. 
Hubbard  says : — 

UVinthrop's  Journal,  Vol.  II,  p.  19.  Buet  removed  to  Providence,  and  for  many- 
years  was  well  known  and  honored  there.  He  was  one  of  the  Commis.sioners  for 
Providence,  General  Sergeant  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  Solic- 
itor General,  and  held  other  offices.  Backus  has  further  occasion  to  mention  him, 
and  spells  his  name  as  he  himself  spelled  it,  Bewit. — Ed. 

2Magnalia,  B.  4,  pp.  127,  128.  [Vol.  II,  p.  10.] 

^Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  227.   [208.] 

^Mitchell's  Life,  p.  70.— B. 

Magnalia,  B.  4,  Vol.  II,  p.  79.  After  quoting  with  evident  approval  this  resolu- 
tion of  Hooker  and  Mitchell,  on  the  next  page  Mather  speaks  of  those  who  were 
trouhlcd  by  the  "  hydrophobic  of  anabaptism,"  and  who  could  only  reply  to  the  ar- 
guments against  them,  "  Say  what  you  will,  we  will  hold  our  mind."  For  those  on 
the  one  side  to  refuse  to  be  convinced  by  reasonable  argument  he  seems  to  have  re- 
garded as  wisdom,  for  those  on  the  other,  as  madness. — Ed. 

6Massiichusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  15.   [21.]— B. 

Bee  further  notice  of  Lady  Moody  near  the  close  of  this  chapter. — Ed. 

6On  page  — ,  this  name  is  spelled  Aquetneck.  Other  writers  give  it  in  still  differ- 
ent forms. — Ed. 

7Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  p.  38.] 


[1641,]  AFFAIRS  AT  RHODE  ISLAND.  97 

Nicholas  Easton  ....  used  to  teach  at  Newport He  maintained, 

that  man  had  no  power  nor  will  in  himself,  but  as  he  was  acted  by  God  ; 
and  seeing  that  God  filled  all  things,  nothing  could  be  or  move  but  by  him, 
and  so  must  needs  be  the  author  of  sin,  and  that  a  Christian  is  united  to 
the  essence  of  God.  Being  shewed  what  blasphemous  consequences  would 
follow  therefrom,  they  seemed  to  abhor  the  consequences,  but  still  defended 

the   position Mr.    Coddington,  Mr.   Coggshall,   and    some   others, 

joined  with  Nicholas  Easton  in  those  delusions  ;  but  their  minister,  Mr. 
Clarke,  and  Mr.  Lenthal,  and  Mr.  Harding,  with  some  others,  dissented 
and  publicly  opposed  ;  whereby  it  grew  to  such  a  heat  of  contention  that 
it  made  a  schism  amongst  them.1 

Mr.  Coddington  and  Mr.  Easton  afterward  joined  the 
Quakers.  Mr.  Clarke  and  his  friends  formed  the  first  Bap- 
tist church  on  Rhode  Island. 

In  June  this  year  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts sent  to  Plymouth  to  know  why  they  might  not  take 
Seekonk  into  their  jurisdiction.  They  tried  for  it  about 
three  years,  till  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies 
confirmed  it  to  Plymouth. 

At  a  Quarter  Court  at  Boston,  September  7,  Mr.  William 
Collins,  a  man  of  learning,  who  had  married  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son's daughter,  being  "  found  a  seducer,"  and  Francis  Hutch- 
inson, for  calling  the  church  of  Boston  "  a  whore,"  &c,  were 
both  fined  and  banished  upon  pain  of  death.2  About  two 
years  after,  they  were  both  killed  by  the  Indians,  with  their 
mother  Hutchinson,  near  New  York.  It  is  evident  that  the 
planters  of  Rhode  Island  did  not  at  first  see  into  the  true 
nature  and  grounds  of  liberty  of  conscience,  but  their  As- 
sembly at  Portsmouth,  March  16,  1641,  passed  an  act  for 
that  purpose,  which  on  the  17th  of  September  following  was 
confirmed  as  a  perpetual  law.  And  at  an  Assembly  in  New- 
port, September  19,  1642,  they  appointed  Messrs.  Codding- 
ton, Brenton,  Easton,  Coggshall,  Baulston,  Porter,  Dyer, 

'Hubbard,  p.  343.— B. 

As  usual,  he  borrows  almost  word  for  word  from  Winthrop.     See  Vol.  II,  pp.  40,  . 
41.     Nicholas  Easton  was  five  years  Governor  at  Rhode  Island. — Ed. 
"Massachusetts  Records. 
7 


98  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Clarke.  Harding  and  Jeffries,  a  committee  to  improve  the 
first  and  best  opportunity  that  presented  to  send  home  for  a 
charter,  and  to  write  to  Sir' Henry  Vane  to  solicit  his  assist- 
ance  and  influence  in  the  design.  They  accordingly  sent 
over  by  Mr.  Williams,  and  obtained  their  request ;  though 
in  the  mean  time  a  most  dreadful  broil  broke  out,  and  pre- 
vailed to  a  terrible  degree  among  them,  of  which  take  the 
following  account : 

Samuel  Gorton,  a  man  of  learning  from  London,  arrived 
at  Boston  in  1636,  and  doubtless  had  a  considerable  hand  in 
the  mystical  disputes  that  then  embroiled  the  Massachusetts 
colony.  From  thence  he  went  to  PI}  mouth,  where  he  treated 
their  pastor  Mr.  Smith  in  such  a  manner,  as  caused  the  au- 
thority to  take  him  in  hand,  and  require  bonds  of  him  for 
his  good  behavior.  This  occasioned  his  departure  to  Rhode 
Island,  where  such  a  difficulty  arose,  that  by  Mr.  Codding- 
ton's  order  he  was  imprisoned  and  whipped.  From  thence 
he  came  to  Providence,  where  he  was  kindly  treated  by  Mr. 
Williams  and  others  ;  and  he  and  his  friends  sat  down  at 
Pawtuxet,  now  called  Cranston.  I  find  by  the  records  that 
Mr.  Gorton  bought  half  of  Robert  Cole's  irterest  there  on 
January  10,  1641.  And  as  the  Court  at  Newport  in  March 
following  disfranchised  Richard  Carder,  Randal  llolden, 
Sampson  Shatton,  and  Robert  Potter,  they  and  John  Wickes, 
who  had  followed  Gorton1  from  Plymouth,  came  and  formed 

'In  Winthrop's  Journal,  Vol.  II,  p.  58,  note,  Mr.  Savage  quotes  from  an  anony- 
mous correspondent  as  follows : — "  It  does  not  appear  that  be  [Samuel  Gorton]  was 
ever  a  freeholder  or  freeman  of  Rhode  [eland,  (hough  20th,  4th,  ici'mS,  iu.  nas  ad- 
mitted an  inhabitant.  In  March,  1042,  liundal  llolden.  Richard  Carder,  and  others, 
wen-  disfranchised  the  Island.  These,  Backus  says,  followed  Gorton  to  Newport 
from  Plymouth,  though  Carder  and  Holden  were  two  of  the  original  purchasers  of 
the  Island,  and  both  signed  the  original  deed  of  incorporation,  llolden,  with  Roger 
Williams,  witnessed  tin-  deed  to  Coddington,  etc.,  dated  24th,  1st  month,  1<;;'>7.  I 
mention  these  tacts    to  show  how  easy  it  is   to  write  carelessly  ahout  men  whom  we 

hate  or  despise."  Mr.  Savage's  correspondent,  though  described  as  an  "  inquisitive 
antiquary,"  was  most  unfortunate  in  these  investigations.    A  glance  at  the  words  of 

BackUl  will  show  that  they  do  no,t  necessarily  state  that  Carder,  llolden.  etc.,  hut 
only  that  .John  Wickes  followed  Gorton;  and  this  is  undoubtedly  their  meaning. 
The  Khode  Island  Kecords,  in  a  list  of  those  admitted  as  inhabitants  at  Newport  in 


[1642.]  GORTON'S  SETTLEMENT.  99 

a  considerable  party  at  Pawtuxet.  Such  a  contention  was 
raised  between  them  and  the  former  inhabitants,  that  "  they 
came  armed  into  the  field,  each  against  the  other ;  but  Mr. 
Williams  pacified  them  for  the  present.  This  caused  the 
weaker  party  to  write  a  letter  to  the  Massachusetts  rulers, 
complaining  of  the  wrong  they  suffered,  desiring  aid,  or  if 
not,  counsel  from  them.  They  answered  them,  that  they 
could  not  levy  war  without  a  General  Court.  For  counsel 
they  told  them,  that  except  they  would  submit  to  some  juris- 
diction (Plymouth,  or  theirs)  they  had  no  calling  or  warrant 
to  interpose  in  their  contentions,  but  if  they  would  submit 
to  any,  then  they  had  a  call  to  protect  them."1  How  differ- 
ent was  the  temper  here  discovered,  from  that  of  the  pious 
Mr.  Williams  ?  He  was  ever  ready  wherever  he  came  to  ex- 
ert all  his  influence  to  make  peace  so  far  as  he  could  with  a 
good  conscience,  but  the  Court  at  Boston  seemed  willing  to 
play  one  party  against  another,  till  all  would  submit  to  their 
power.  Gorton  took  a  like  method  to  defend  himself 
against  them  ;  the  consequence  of  which  was  terrible  in- 
deed ;  the  true  state  thereof  I  shall  give  with  all  the  ex- 
actness I  can. 

William  Arnold,  Robert  Cole,  William  Carpenter,  and 
Benedict  Arnold  of  Pawtuxet,  went  to  the  General  Assem- 
bly at  Boston,  September  3, 1642,  and  submitted  themselves 
and  their  lands  to  that  government.  At  the  same  time  Mr. 
Leveret  and  Edward  Hutchinson  were  sent  to  Miantinomu 
to  demand  satisfaction  of  him,  and  first  to  tell  him  "of  credi- 
able  information  received,  partly  by  relation  of  the  Indians 

1638,  give  the  name  of  Samuel  Gorton,  with  the  date  20th,  3d,  not  20th,  4th,  as 
stated  in  the  above  quotation ;  and  next  after  him  the  name  of  John  Wickes,  with 
the  date  20th,  4th,  so  that,  as  Baekus  states,  Wickes  followed  Gorton.  It  is  well 
nigh  certain,  too,  that  our  unknown  writer  is  in  error  in  stating  that  Holden  was  one 
of  the  original  purchasers  of  Rhode  Island.  See  p.  78,  note,  and  Arnold's  History 
of  Rhode  Island,  Vol.  I,  p.  124.  Backus,  in  this  case  at  least,  did  not  write  care- 
lessly about  men  whom  he  hated  or  despised;  and  the  charge  comes  with  ill  grace 
from  one  who,  in  the  very  act  of  making  it,  crowds  three  errors  into  as  many  brief 
sentences. — Ed. 
^inthrop,  [Vol.  II,  p.  59]  ;  Hubbard,  [343,  344.] 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

themselves,  that  they  have  drawn  in  many  other  sachems  to 
join  with  the  Narragansetts,  in  making  war  upon  the 
English. "  Benedict  Arnold  and  Ahauton,  the  Indian,  were 
to  he  their  guides  and  interpreters.1  Then,  October  28,  a 
warrant  was  sent  from  Boston  to  cite  Gorton  and  his  friends 
to  come  to  their  Court,  to  answer  to  the  complaints  of 
Arnold's  company  against  them,  signed  by  the  Governor 
and  three  Assistants.  To  this  an  answer  was  returned  on 
November  20,  signed  by  Samuel  Gorton,  Randal  Ilolden, 
Robert  Potter,  John  Wickes,  John  Warner,  Richard  Water- 
man, William  Woodale,  John  Greene,  Francis  Weston, 
Richard  Carder,  Nicholas  Power,  and  Sampson  Shatton.  It 
contained  a  long  mystical  paraphrase  upon  their  warrant 
and  many  provoking  sentences  against  those  rulers  and  their 
ministers,  and  a  refusal  to  come  to  them.  But  in  order  to 
get  out  of  their  reach  they  removed  and  purchased  Shawo- 
met  for  a  hundred  and  forty-four  fathoms  of  wampum,  and 
obtained  a  deed  of  it,  signed  by  Miantinomu,  Pumham,  and 
others,  on  January  12,  1643.  John  Greene  had  received  a 
deed  of  an  island,  neck  of  land  and  meadow,  called  Ocupas- 
sutuxet  Cove,  dated  October  1,  1642,  signed  by  Miantinomu 
and  Socononco.2 

The  General  Court  at  Boston,  May  10,  1643,  appointed 
Messrs.  Atherton  and  Tomlyns,  with  William  Arnold  to 
speak  with  Messrs.  Greene,  Warner,  and  their  company. 
On  June  22,  through  Benedict  Arnold's  influence  and  assist- 
ance, Pumham,  sachem  of  Shawomet,  and  Socanocho,  sachem 
of  Pawtuxet,  signed  at  Boston  a  submission  of  their  persons 
and  lands  to  that  government ;  and  Arnold  was  allowed  four 
pounds  for  his  pains.3      Governor  W7inthrop  tells  us  that 

'Hubbard,  [447.]  Massachusetts  Records. 

'Gorton's  Defence,  [59.]  Callender  [89,  90.]  Colony  llccords.  The  hundred  and 
forty-four  fathoms  of  peag  it  is  said  was  computed  at  forty  pounds  sixteen  shillings 
sterling.    Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  118,   [118.] 

Massachusetts  Records.  The  colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  Connecti- 
cut and  New  Haven,  by  their  commissioners,  signed  articles  of  confederation 
together  for  mutual  assistance  and  defence  on  May  19,  1G43,  from  whence  they  were 
called  the  United  Colonies. 


[1643.]  DIFFICULTY  WITH  GORTON  AND  THE  INDIANS.  101 

they  had  two  or  three  hundred  men  under  them.  The  plea 
for  this  action  was,  that  Gorton's  company  and  Miantinomu 
had  oppressed  these  sachems,  and  wronged  them  of 
their  lands.  Pumham  said  he  was  forced  to  sign  the  deed, 
but  would  take  none  of  the  pay.  The  Governor,  with 
another  magistrate,  wrote  to  Shawomet  people  about  it  ; 
and  also  to  Miantinomu,  and  he  came  down  and  met  said 
sachems  at  Boston,  where  they  were  forced  to  confess  that 
they  had  sometimes  sent  him  presents,  and  had  aided  him  in 
his  wars  against  the  Pequods  ;  yet  they  and  Arnold  would 
have  it,  that  they  were  as  free  sachems  as  he  was,  because 
their  people  paid  tribute  to  them.  So  the  Court  received 
them  (as  is  before  noted)  under  their  protection.  We  are 
told  that  before  this,  Gorton  and  his  company  had  sent  a 
writing  of  four  sheets  "  full  of  reproaches  against  the  magis- 
trates, ministers  and  churches,  and  stuffed  likewise  with 
absurd  familistial  stuff,  and  wherein  they  justified  the  pur- 
chase of  the  sachem's  lands,  and  professed  to  maintain  it  to 
the  death."1 

Miantinomu  had  already  seen  Uncas,  a  warlike  sachem  to 
the  west  of  him,  putting  himself  and  his  people  under  the 
protection  of  the  English  ;  and  he  was  accused  of  hiring  a 
young  Pequod  to  murder  Uncas,  but  he  brought  the  young 
man  with  him,  who  told  the  Court  that  Uncas  cut  his  own 
arm  with  a  flint,  and  then  charged  him  to  report  that  Mian- 
tinomu had  hired  him  to  murder  him.  But  upon  private 
examination,  the  Court  were  persuaded  the  young  man  was 
guilty,  and  advised  Miantinomu  to  send  him  to  Uncas  ;  but 
instead  of  doing  it,  he  cut  off  his  head  by  the  way,  as  he 
returned  home."2  What  followed  till  his  own  death,  we  have 
recorded  by  Governor  Winthrop.  in  a  more  distinct  and  clear 
light  than  has  ever  been  published.  I  shall  therefore  give 
it  to  the  reader  in  his  own  words  : — 

August.  Oukus  being  provoked  by  Sequassion,  a  sachem  of  Connecti- 
cut (who  would  not  be  persuaded  by  the  magistrates  there  to  a  reconcilia- 

^ubbard,  [405.]  2Johnson,  pp.  182—184. 


102  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN  NEW   ENGLAND. 

tion)  made  war  upon  him,  and  slew  divers  of  his  men,  and  burnt  up  his 
wigwams  ;  whereupon  Miautinomu,  being  his  kinsman,  took  offence  against 
Onkus,  and  went  with  near  one  thousand  men,  and  set  upon  Onkus  before 
he  could  be  provided  for  defence  ;  for  he  had  not  then  with  him  above 
three  or  four  hundred  men.  But  it  pleased  God  to  give  Onkus  the  vic- 
tory, after  he  had  killed  about  thirty  of  the  Narragansetts,  and  wounded 
many  more  ;  and  among  these,  two  of  Canonicus's  sons,  and  a  brother  of 
Miautinomu,  who1  fled,  but  having  on  a  coat  of  mail2  he  was  easily  over- 
taken, which  two  of  his  captains  perceiving,  they  laid  hold  of  him  and 
carried  him  to  Onkus,  hoping  thereby  to  procure  their  own  pardon.  But 
so  soon  as  they  came  to  Onkus  he  slew  them  presently  ;  and  Miautinomu 
standing  mute,  he  demanded  of  him,  why  he  would  not  speak  ?  "  If  you  had 
taken  me,"  (saith  he)  "  I  would  have  besought  you  for  my  life."  The 
news  of  Miantinomu's  captivity  comiug  to  Providence,  Gorton  and  his 
company  ....  wrote  a  letter  to  Onkus,  willing  him  to  deliver  their  friend 
Miantiuomu,  and  threatened  him  with  the  power  of  the  English  if  he 
refused.  Upon  this  Onkus  carries  Miantiuomu  to  Hartford  to  take  advice 
of  the  magistrates  there  ;  and,  at  Miantinomu's  earnest  entreaty,  he  left 
him  with  them,  yet  as  a  prisoner.  They  kept  him  under  guard,  but  used 
him  very  courteously.  So  he  continued  till  the  commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies  met  at  Boston,3  who,  taking  into  serious  consideration  what  was 
safest  and  best  to  be  done,  were  all  of  opinion  that  it  would  not  be  safe  to 
set  him  at  liberty;  neither  had  we  sufficient  ground  for  us  to  put  him  to 
death.  In  this  difficulty  we  called  in  five  of  the  most  judicious  elders  (it 
being  in  the  time  of  the  general  assembly  of  the  elders)  and  propounding 
the  case  to  them,  they  all  agreed  that  he  ought  to  be  put  to  death.  Upon 
this  concurrence  we  enjoined  secresyupon  ourselves  and  them,  lest  if  it  should 
come  to  the  notice  of  the  Narragansetts,  they  might  attempt  somewhat 
against  Hartford  for  this  reason,  or  might  set  upon  the  commissioners,  &c, 
upon  their  return,  to  take  some  of  them  to  redeem  him  (as  Miantiuomu 
himself  had  told  Mr.  Ilaynes  had  been  in  consultation  amongst  them)  and 
agreed  that  upon  the  return  of  the  commissioners  to  Hartford,  they  should 
send  for  Onkus,  and  tell  him  our  determination,  that  Miantiuomu  should  be 
delivered  to  him  again,  and  he  should  put  him  to  death  so  soon  as  he  came 
within  his  own  jurisdiction,  and  that  the4  English  should  go  along  with 
him  to  see  the  execution.  And  if  any  Indians  should  invade  him  for  it, 
we  would  send  men  to  defend  him.  If  Onkus  should  refuse  to  do  it,  thru 
Miantinomu  should  be  sent  in  a  piunauce  to  Boston,  there  to  be  kept  until 
further  consideration. 

'Miantinomu. — Ki>. 

'Johnson  calls  it  a  Corslet,  and  both  lie  and  Hubbard  say  he  had  it  of  Gorton. 

■In  September. 

'Savage  reads  "  two"  in  place  of  "the,"  and  is  probably  correct. — Ed. 


1.1643.]  MURDER  OF  MIANTINOMU.  103 

"  The  reasons  of  this  proceeding  with  him  were  these  : — 1.  It  was  now 
clearly  discovered  to  us  that  there  was  a  general  conspiracy  among  the 
Indians  to  cut  off  all  the  English,  and  that  Miantinomu  was  the  head  and 
contriver  of  it.  2.  He  was  of  a  turuulent  and  proud  spirit,  and  would 
never  be  at  rest.  3.  Although  he  had  promised  us  in  the  open  Court  to 
send  the  Pequod  to  Oukus,  who  had  shot  him  in  the  arm,  with  intent  to 
have  killed  him  (which  was  by  the  procurement  of  Miantinomu,  as  did 
probably  appear)  yet  in  his  way  homeward  he  killed  him.  4.  He  beat  one 
of  Pumham's  men,  and  took  away  his  wampum,  and  then  bid  him  go  and 
complain  to  the  Massachusetts.  According  to  this  agreement  the  commis- 
sioners, at  their  return  to  Connecticut,  sent  for  Oakus,  aud  acquainted  him 
herewith,  who  readily  undertook  the  execution  ;  and  taking  Miantinomu 
along  with  him,  in  the  way  between  Hartford  and  Windsor  (where  Onkus 
hath  some  men  dwell)  Onkus's  brother  following  after  Miantinomu,  clave 
his  head  with  an  hatchet,  some  English  being  present.  And  that  the 
Indians  might  know  that  the  English  did  approve  of  it,  they  sent  twelve 
or  fourteen  musqueteers  home  with  Onkus  to  abide  a  time  with  him,  for 
his  defence,  if  need  should  be.1 

Alas !  when  good  men  get  into  an  evil  path,  where  will  it 
carry  them  ?  The  next  news  we  hear  is  as  follows.  Sep- 
tember 12,2  the  General  Court  sent  a  warrant  to  require 
Gorton  and  his  company  to  come  to  Boston,  to  answer  the 
Indians'  complaints  against  them.  To  which  they  sent  a 
verbal  answer,  that  they  were  out  of  that  jurisdiction,  and 
would  own  subjection  to  none  but  the  government  of  Old 
England.  Upon  which  the  Court  wrote  the  19th,  informing 
them  that  they  intended  to  send  commissioners  to  seek 
to  right  these  things  among  them.3  The  commissioners 
were,  Captain  George  Cook,  Humphrey  Atherton,  and 
Edward  Johnson,  who  were  sent,  "  with  forty  able  men 
to  attend  them,  which  had  authority  and  order  to  bring 
Samuel    Gorton  and   his  company,  if  they  should  not  give 

'Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  130—134.] 

2In  the  published  Records  the  date  of  this  warrant  is  given,  September  7. — Ed. 

3Gorton's  Defence,  [p.  97.]— B» 

This  reference  to  Gorton's  Defence  and  those  that  follow  are  to  Staples's  edition, 
Collections  of  the  R.  I.  Historical  Society,  Vol.  II.  The  exact  words  here  referred 
to  are  these  : — "This  you  may  rest  assured  of;  that  if  you  will  make  good  your  own 
offer  to  us  of  doing  us  right,  our  people  shall  return  and  leave  you  in  peace,  otherwise 
we  must  right  ourselves  and  our  people  by  force  of  arms." — Ed. 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

them  satisfaction."  A  Sergeant  Major-General  was  ap- 
pointed in  the  colony,  and  the  country  put  into  a  posture 
of  war.  "  They  of  Aquidneck"  were  "  granted  to  buy  a 
barrel  of  powder,  provided  Lieutenant  Morris  give  caution 
that  it  be  employed  for  the  defence  of  the  island,  by  the 
advice  of  the  Governor  and  Deputy."  It  was  ordered  "that 
the  deputies  should  acquaint  the  elders,  to  desire  them  in 
special  manner  to  commend  this  undertaking  to  God." 

A  large  committee  of  magistrates  and  deputies  was 
appointed  in  the  recess  of  the  General  Court,  "  not  know- 
ing," say  they,  "  what  may  fall  out,  concerning  the  expedi- 
tion now  on  foot  against  Samuel  Gorton,  and  the  rest  of  that 
company. 

It  was  ordered  "  that  Pumham  and  Sochonoco  should  have 
each  of  them,  lent  them  a  fowling  piece,  and  Benedict 
Arnold  hath  liberty  to  supply  them  with  shot  as  he  sees 
occasion."1 

Hearing  of  their  coming,  Gorton's  company  sent  a  letter 
to  meet  them,  dated  September  28,  to  let  them  know,  that  if 
they  came  in  a  way  of  loving  neighborhood,  they  were  wel- 
come ;  but  if  with  a  band  of  soldiers,  they  charged  them 
not  to  set  foot  on  their  land  at  their  peril.2  The  commission- 
ers wrote  a  reply,  signifying  their  great  desire  of  having  con- 
versation with   them,   with   hope   of  reclaiming  them  from 

'Massachusetts  Records.— B. 

This  enactment  was  passed  at  a  later  session  of  the  Court,  October  17. — Ed. 

2If  you  come  to  treat  with  us  ....  shaking  a  rod  over  our  heads,  in  a  hand  of 
soldiers,  he  you  assured,  we  have  passed  our  childhood  and  nonage  in  that  point, 
and  are  under  commission  of  the  great  God  not  to  he  children  in  understandings, 
neither  in  courage,  hut  (put  toourselves  as  men.  We  straitly  charge  you  therefore, 
hereby,  that  you  sit  not  a  foot  upon  our  lands   in  any   hostile   way,   hut   upon  your 

peril;   and  that  if  any  blood  be  shed,  upon  your  own  heads  shall  it  be If  you 

6pread  a  table  before  as  as  friends,  we  sit  not  as  mere  invective,  envious  or  malcon- 
tent, not  touching  a  morsel  nor  looking  for  you  to  point  us  unto  our  dish;  hut  we 
eat  with  you  by  virtue  of  the  unfeigned  law  of  relations,  not  only  to  satisfy  our 
stomachs  but  to  increase  friendship  and  love,  the  end  of  feasting.  So  also,  if  you 
Visit  ii-  a-  combatants  or  warriors,  by  the  same  law  of  relations,  we  as  freely  and 
cheerfully  answer  you  unto  death."  Extract  from  the  letter  of  the  "  owners  and 
inhabitants  in  Shawomet,"  "to  certain  men  styled  Commissioners,  sent  from  the 
Massachusetts."     Gorton's  Defence,  p.  W. — Ed. 


[1643.]  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY  ARRESTED.  105 

their  errors  ;  but  if  that  could  not  be  done,  that  they  should 
then  "  look  upon  them  as  men  prepared  for  slaughter,  and 
accordingly  should  address  themselves  with  all  convenient 
speed  ;rl  which  we  may  well  suppose  was  very  surprising 
to  their  wives  and  children,  and  it  is  said  it  scattered  them 
and  occasioned  some  their  deaths.2  Some  of  the  people  of 
Providence  went  with  those  commissioners  and  soldiers,  and 
procured  a  parley  with  Shawomet  men,  who  demanded  the 
reason  of  this  proceeding  ;  to  which  the  others  answered, 
that  they  had  done  wrong  to  certain  of  their  subjects,  and 
also  held  blasphemous  errors.  Shawomet  men  offered  to 
appeal  to  England,  but  that  was  refused ;  then  they  offered 
to  leave  the  controversy  to  indifferent  men  in  this  country. 
This  appeared  so  reasonable  that  a  truce  was  agreed  upon, 
till  they  could  send  to  Boston  to  know  the  mind  of  the  Court 
upon  it.  Accordingly,  Chad  Brown,  Thomas  Olney,  Wil- 
liam Field,  and  William  Wickenden  of  Providence,  wrote  a 
letter  to  persuade  the  rulers  of  Massachusetts  to  comply 
with  this  proposal.  But  an  answer  was  returned,  dated 
October  3,  refusing  any  such  thing.3  After  this  those  men 
were  seized  and  forcibly  carried  to  Boston,  where  the  Gen 
eral  Court  by  adjournment  met  October  17,  when  the  accu- 
sation following  was  exhibited,  viz.  : — 

The  charge  of  the  prisoners,  Samuel  Gorton  and  his  company. 
Upon  much  examination  and   serious  considerations  of  your  writings, 
with  your  answers  about  them,  we   do  charge  you  to  be   a   blasphemous 

lli  It  is  our  great  desire  that  we  might  speak  with  them  concerning  the  particu- 
lars which  we  were  sent  to  them  about;  certainly  persuading  ourselves  that  we 
shall  be  able  through  the  Lord's  help,  to  convince  some  of  them  at  least  of  the  evil 
of  their  way  and  cause  them  to  divert  their  course,  that  so  doing  they  may  preserve 
their  lives  and  liberties,  which  otherwise  must  lead  to  the  eternal  ruin  of  them  and 

theirs But  if  there   be   no  way  of  turning  them,    we   then   shall  look  upon 

them  as  men  prepared  for  slaughter,  and  accordingly  shall  address  ourselves  with 
all  convenient  speed,  not  doubting  of  the  Lord's  presence  with  us,  being  clear  in 
the  way  we  are  in."  Extract  from  the  letter  of  the  Commissioners  to  John  Peise, 
messenger  from  those  at  Shawomet.     Gorton's  Defence,  p.  101. --Ed. 

2T\vo  women  are  named  as  having  died  in  consequence  to  the  exposure  incident 
to  their  flight;  and  others  are  said  to  have  suffered  severe  physical  injury.  Gor- 
ton's Defence,  p.  102. — Ed. 

Norton's  Defence,  [pp.  103—111.] 


106  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

euemy  of  the  true  religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  his  holy  ordinan- 
ces, and  also  of  all  civil  authority  among  the  people  of  God,  and  particu- 
larly in  this  jurisdiction. 

It  is  ordered  that  Samuel  Gorton  shall  be  coufiued  to  Charlestown,  there 
to  be  set  on  work,  and  to  wear  such  bolts  or  irons  as  may  hinder  his 
escape,  and  to  continue  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Court ;  provided  that  if 
he  shall  break  his  said  confinement,  or  shall  in  the  mean  time,  either  by 
speech  or  writing,  publish,  declare  or  maintain  any  of  the  blasphemous  or 
abominable  heresies  wherewith  he  hath  been  charged  by  the  General 
Court,  contained  in  either  of  the  two  books  sent  unto  us  by  him  or  Randal 
Holden  ;  or  shall  reproach  or  reprove  the  churches  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  these  United  Colonies,  or  the  civil  government,  or  the  public  ordi- 
nances of  God  therein  (unless  it  be  by  answer  to  some  question  pro- 
pounded to  him,  or  conference  with  any  elder,  or  with  auy  other  licensed 
to  speak  with  him  privately  under  the  hand  of  one  of  the  Assistants)  that 
immediately  upon  accusation  of  any  such  writiug  or  speech,  he  shall,  by 
such  Assistant,  to  whom  such  accusation  shall  be  brought,  be  committed  to 
prison  till  the  next  Court  of  Assistants,  then  and  there  to  be  tried  by  a 
jury,  whether  he  hath  so  spoken  or  written,  and  upon  convictiou  thereof 
shall  be  condemned  to  death  and  executed.  Dated  the  third  of  the  ninth 
mouth,  1G43. 

A  like  sentence  was  passed,  by  which  John  Wickes  was 
confined  to  Ipswich,  Randal  Holden  to  Salem,  Robert  Por- 
ter to  Rowley,  Richard  Carder  to  Roxbury,  Francis  Weston 
to  Dorchester,  and  John  Warner  to  Boston  ;  all  on  the  same 
penalty  with  Gorton.  William  Woodale  was  confined  to 
Watertown  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Court,  and  if  he 
escaped  to  be  punished  as  they  see  meet.     Further  : — 

It  is  ordered,  that  all  such  cattle  of  Samuel  Gorton,  John  Greene,1  &c, 
as  have  been  or  shall  be  seized  upon,  for  such  satisfaction  of  charges  as 
the  country  hath  been  put  unto,  by  sending  and  fetching  them  in,  and 
other  charges  about  the  trial  in  the  Court,  and  expense  in  the  prison  or 
otherwise,  shall  be  appraised  and  sold  to  the  most  advantage,  and  disposed 
of  accordingly,  and  the  overplus  to  be  reserved,  by  the    treasurer  lor  their 

maintenance If  any  of  them    will    not  do    such  work   as  they  may, 

aud  as  shall  be  appointed  them,  they  are  to  be  left  to  shift  as  they  may. 

'I  can't  find  that  (Jreene  was  carried  now  to  Boston.  Hubbard  says  Woodale  was 
found  to  be  an  ignorant  yoong  man. — B. 

Staples  says  that  Greene  "  escaped  entirely,'.' running  from  the  house  when  the 
Commissioners  came  to  apprehend  him.     Gorton's  Defence,  p.  11)7,  note. — Ed. 


[1644.]  SENTENCE  OF  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY.  107 

Richard  Waterman  is  dismissed  for  the  present,  so  that  what  is  taken  of  his, 
is  to  go  toward  payment  of  the  charge,  and  the  rest  of  his  estate  is  bound 
in  one  hundred  pounds  that  he  shall  appear  at  the  General  Court  the  third 
month,  and  not  depart  without  license,  and  to  submit  to  the  order  of  the 
Court. 

Nicholas  Power  appearing,  and  denying  that  he  set  his  hand  to  the  first 
book,  was  dismissed  with  an  admonition. 

For  appraising  the  cattle  brought  from  Providence,  the  prisoners  have 
liberty  to  name  two,  Robert  Turner  and  the  soldiers  two,  aud  the  Court 
one.  The  prisoners  refusing,  the  Court,  Robert  Turner,  and  the  soldiers, 
chose  Mr.  Colbron,  John  Jephson  and  William  Parks.1 

The  whole  of  the  aforesaid  charges  were  adjudged  to 
amount  to  an  hundred  and  sixty  pounds.  They  were 
detained  through  the  winter  under  the  above  sentence  ;  "but 
finding  that  they  could  not  keep  them  from  seducing  others, 
nor  yet  bring  them  to  any  sight  of  their  folly  and  wickedness, 
the  General  Court  (March  7,  1644,)  sent  them  away."2  Ah, 
sent  them  away  sure  enough !  it  was  with  the  words  follow- 
ing, viz. : — 

It  is  ordered  that  Samuel  Gorton  and  the  rest  of  that  company,  who  now 
stand  confined,  shall  be  set  at  liberty,  provided  that  if  they  or  any  of  them 
shall,  after  fourteen  days  after  such  enlargement,  come  within  any  part  of 
our  jurisdiction,  either  in  the  Massachusetts,  or  in  or  near  Providence,  or 
any  of  the  lands  of  Pumham  and  Soconocho,  or  elsewhere  within  our 
jurisdiction,  then  such  person  or  persons  shall  be  apprehended,  wheresoever 
they  may  be  taken,  and  shall  suffer  death  by  course  of  law  ;  provided  also, 
that  during  all  their  continuance  in  our  bounds  inhabiting  for  the  said  time 
of  fourteen  days,  they  shall  be  still  bound  to  the  rest  of  the  articles  of 
their  former  confinement,  upon  the  penalty  therein  expressed.3 

Such  a  way  of  treating  our  fellow  servants  as  this,  will 
doubtless  appear  very  surprising  to  the  present  generation  ; 

'Massachusetts  Records.  Nicholas  Power  and  many  of  his  posterity  have  been  of 
good  note  among  the  Baptists  in  Providence.  Hubbard  says  he  was  released  "freely, 
for  that  he  was  in  his  master's  house." 

2Hubbard,  [407].— B. 

Hubbard  is  almost  the  last  man  in  whose  behalf  one  need  enter  a  complaint  of 
injustice,  but  a  wrong  impression  seems  to  be  conveyed  by  quoting  from   him  only 

the  above  fragment.     His  sentence  ends  with  the  words,  " sent  them  away  with 

this  caution,  that  thoy  should  not  come  into  any  place  where  the  said  Court  had 
jurisdiction,  upon  pain  of  death." — Ed. 

3Massachusetts  Records. 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  many  will  be  ready  to  say,  How  was  it  possible  for  any, 
if  they  had  been  endowed  with  the  least  spark  of  Chris- 
tianity, or  even  humanity,  to  treat  their  neighbors  as  those 
rulers  did?  Let  Captain  Johnson,  who  was  one  of  the  three 
commissioners  that  took  them,  answer  the  question  ;  says 
he:— 

That  holy  man  of  God,  Mr.  John  Cotton,  among  many  others,  hath 
diligently  .searched  for  the  Lord's  mind  herein,  and  hath  declared  some 
sudden  blow  to  be  given  to  this  blood-thirsty  monster  [the  man  of  sin]  but 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  hath  inseparably  joined  the  time,  means  and  manner 
of  this  work  together  ;  and  therefore  all  men  that  expect  the  day  (of  his  fall) 
must  attend  the  means.1 

And  speaking  of  Gorton  and  his  company,  he  says  : — 

To  be  sure  there  be  them  in  New  England  that  have  Christ  Jesus  and 
his  blessed  ordinances  in  such  esteem,  that,  the  Lord  assisting,  they  had 
rather  lose  their  lives,  then  suffer  them  to  be  thus  blasphemed,  if  they  can 
help  it ;  and  whereas  some  have  favored  them,  and  endeavored  to  bring 
under  blame  such  as  have  been  zealous  against  their  abominable  doctrines, 
the  good  God  be  favorable  unto  them,  and  prevent  them  from  coming 
under  the  like  blame  with  Ahab  ;  yet  they  remain  in  their  old  way,  and 
there  is  somewhat  to  be  considered  in  it  to  be  sure,  that  in  these  days,  when 
all  look  for  the  fall  of  antichrist,  such  detestable  doctrines  should  be  upheld, 
and  persons  suffered,  that  exceed  the  beast  himself  for  blasphemy,  and  this 
to  be  done  by  those  that  would  be  counted  reformers,  and  such  as  seek  the 
utter  subversion  of  antichrist.2 

This  plain  account  of  the  reasons  and  motives  they  acted 
upon,  takes  off  the  edge  in  some  measure  of  Gorton's  keen 
satire  upon  them,  which  he  wrote  from  Warwick,  Sept.  16, 
1656,  to  the  first  Quakers  that  were  imprisoned  in  Boston, 
saying  — 

I  marvel  what  manner  of  God  your  adversaries  trust  in,  who  is  so  fear- 
ful of  being  infected  with  error,  or  how  they  think  they  shall  escape  the 
wiles  and  power  of  the  devil,  when  the  arm  of  flesh  fails  them,  whereby 
they  seek  to  defend  themselves  for  the  present;  sure  they  think  their  God 
will  be  grown  to  more  power  and  care  over  them,  in  and  after  death,  or 
else  they  will  be  loth  to  pass  through  it. 

This  remark  is  cutting  indeed,  if  we  leave  out  any  con- 

'Johnson's  History,  p.  230.  2Ibid,  p.  187. 


[1644.]  GORTON'S  SENTIMENTS.  109 

sideration  of  duty  in  the  case  ;  but  if  that  be  brought  in, 
then  it  is  a  presumption,  and  not  faith,  to  expect  protection 
and  support  from  God  in  a  way  of  disregard  of  the  means 
of  his  appointment.  Hence,  the  error  of  supposing  that 
God  has  appointed  the  use  of  secular  force  in  religious  af- 
fairs, ought  to  bear  all  the  blame  and  scandal  of  those  cruel 
proceedings  ;  and  instead  of  venting  our  resentment  against 
our  dead  fathers,  let  these  things  rouse  the  living  to  repent- 
ance and  reformation.  Those  fathers  could  find  warrant 
enough  in  the  Old  Testament  for  the  use  of  force  against 
idolaters  and  blasphemers  ;  but  the  use  of  force  to  collect 
the  priests'  support  was  plainly  censured  in  those  times. 
With  what  face  then  can  those  who  profess  to  be  under  the 
law  of  liberty,  forcibly  take  a  farthing  from  any  to  maintain 
professed  ministers  of  him  who  has  said,  "  Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give  ;"  and  who  commanded  his  disciples  to 
shake  off,  and  therefore  not  to  carry  away,  so  much  as  the 
dust  of  a  city  or  house  that  would  not  receive  them ! 

It  is  likely  that  the  reader  may  wish  to  know  what  Gor- 
ton's sentiments  really  were  which  were  so  offensive.  To 
this  I  answer,  that  he  evidently  was  a  man  of  smart  capac- 
ity, and  of  considerable  learning,  and  when  he  pleased  could 
express  his  ideas  as  plainly  as  any  man ;  but  he  used  such  a 
mystical  method  in  handling  the  Scriptures,  and  in  speaking 
about  religion,  that  people  are  not  agreed  to  this  day  what 
his  real  sentiments  were.  It  is  so  common  for  parties  to  mis- 
represent the  opinions  of  their  opponents,  that  little  regard 
is  paid  by  many  to  what  those  in  Massachusetts  have  said 
against  him.  I  will  therefore  give  a  taste  of  what  he  pub- 
lished to  the  world,  not  in  a  way  of  controversy,  but  of 
friendly  correspondence  with  the  aforesaid  prisoners  at  Bos- 
ton. He  first  wrote  a  letter  to  them  of  the  date  I  have  given; 
to  which  they  returned  an  answer ;  then  he  made  a  reply, 
October  6,  1656,  wherein  he  gives  various  remarks  on  the 
sentiments  expressed  in  their  letter,  and  says : — 


110  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  us  a  child  is  born,  in  us  a  son  is  given1,  but  the  government  is  upon 
his  Bhoulder,  and  he  is  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  The  mighty  God,  The 
everlasting  Father,  The  Prince  of  Peace.  So  that  wherever  this  lowly  and 
meek  spirit  is,  there  is  also  the  spirit  of  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah, 
and  the  Lord  thereby  shall  roar  out  of  Zion,  and  utter  his  voice  from  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  heavens  and  the  earth  shall  shake  ;  but  the  Lord  is  the  hope 
of  his  people,  and  the  strength  of  the  children  of  Israel.  True  lowliness 
of  spirit,  aud  the  loftiest  mind  that  ever  was,  are  never  separated  ;  for 
these  twain  are  made  one  so  as  never  to  be  separated,  no  more  than  a  child 
(in  point  of  all  human  abilities)  aud  the  Aucieut  of  Days  shall ;  for  as  we 
receive  the  kingdom  of  heaven  as  a  little  child,  so  we  are  never  otherwise 
in  the  same  respect,  which  we  know,  no  wisdom  human,  serpentine,  or 
upon  principles  proper  to  a  creature,  can  ever  yield  unto  or  find  out ;  and 
therefore  we  are  fools  unto  the  world,  being  bereaved  of  all  their  principles, 
in  regard  of  any  exercise  of  them  according  to  their  proper  intent  in  any 

of  our  designs And  therefore  as  brute  beasts  are  unto  them,  so  are 

they  to  us  iu  the  things  of  God. 

Again  he  says  : — 

AVe  conclude  that  the  wisdom  of  God,  though  become  foolishuess  unto 
the  world,  yet  doth  it  contain  sufficiency  of  power  in  argument  to  overtop 
any  council,  synod,  synedrimor  assembly,  composed  by  human  art  or  learn- 
ing  For  as  it  is  in  that  way  of  the  devil,  to  propose  his  temptations 

from  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures,  to  subdue  Christ  thereby  ;  so  is  there  suf- 
ficiency of  spirit  and  wisdom,  in  the  true  interpretation  thereof,  to  confound 
and  bring  them  (in  the  party  proposing  them)  to  nought.  A  Christian  is 
still  saying,  Let  there  be  light,  and  it  is  so  ;  he  shall  ever  divide  the  light 
from  the  darkness,  and  the  waters  that  are  above  the  firmament  from  the 
waters  that  are  below  the  outspread  firmament.  In  a  word,  he  is  for  ever 
to  form  all  things  out  of  that  ancient  chaos  of  God  and  man  being  made 
one. 

Once  more  he  says  : — 

If  I  witness  to  the  Son,  word,  light,  life,  law,  or  peace  of  God,  I  must 
witness  unto  the  being  of  such  a  thing,  that  such  a  thing  is,  as  also  to  the 
manner  of  its  being,  how  it  comes  to  be  such  a  thiug,  together  with  its 
necessary  and  proper  operations,  which  must  iuevitably  accompany  such  a 
manner  of  being,  with  the  comprehensions  and  extensions  of  such  opera- 
tions aud  motion,  or  else  1  am  not  that  faithful  and  true  witness,  the  be- 
ginning of  the  creation  of  God,  or  that  head  and  masterpiece  of  his  work.3 

'Observe,  the  word  of  truth  says,  "  Unto  us"  but  this  perverter  of  Scripture  says, 
"  In  us." 
'These  letters  are  annexed  to  a  book  he  published  in  1636,  pp.  272—294. 


[1644.]  GORTON'S  SENTIMENTS.  Ill 

These  extracts  from  his  own  writings,  may  give  the  reader 
some   idea   of    his   way   of  handling  the    Scriptures.     Our 
Saviour  vanquished  the  tempter  by  appealing  to   what  was 
written,  and  shewing  thereby  that  Satan  perverted  the  text 
he  pretended  to  quote  ;  but  the    lofty  mind  of  this  writer 
soared  so  much  above  that  method,   as   to  say  of  the  world 
of  mankind,  "  As  brute  beasts  are  unto  them,   so   are  they 
to  us  in  the  things   of  God."     Well  therefore   might  Mr. 
Williams  say,  "  I  am  no  more  of  Master   Gorton's  religion 
thanof  Master  Cotton's  ;  and  yet  if  Master  Cotton  complain 
of  their   obstinacy  in  their  way,  I  cannot  but  impute  it  to 
his  bloody  tenet  and   practice,   which   ordinarily   doth  give 
strength,  vigor,  spirit  and  resolution  to  the  most  erroneous, 
when  such  unrighteous  and  most  unchristian  proceedings  are 
exercised  against    them."1     Besides   their  difference   about 
gospel  doctrines,  they  evidently  differed   in  the  following 
points  of  practice.     1.   Mr.  Williams  used  great  plainness 
of  speech,  so  that  his  meaning   was   obvious    to   common 
understandings  ;  but  Mr.  Gorton's  writings  are  not  so.  2.  Mr. 
Williams  openly  stood  for  what  he  believed  to  be  the  truth, 
in  the  face  of  the  greatest  danger  ;  but  when  Mr.  Gorton  saw 
himself  greatly  exposed  in  Boston,  he  explained  their  mysti- 
cal wTritings  in  such  a  manner,  that  Governor  Winthrop  said 
"  he  could  agree  with  him  in  his  answer,  though  not  in  their 
writings."2     3.  Mr.  Williams  set  a  noble  example  of  over- 
coming evil  with  good  ;  but  Mr.  Gorton  was  sadly  ensnared 
in  rendering  evil  for  evil,  and   railing  for  railing.     Though 
after  he  had  been  to  England,  and  obtained  liberty  to  return 
to  and  enjoy  the  lands  they  had  purchased,  he    and  sundry 
of  his  suffering  companions  became  very  useful  members  of 
civil  society.     But  as  corruption  is  ever  the  most  dangerous 
when  covered  with  a  religious  mask,  it  is  of  great  import- 
ance for  us  all  to  learn  to  distinguish  between  that  and  true 
religion.     Paul  said  to  the  contending  Corinthians,  "  Are  ye 

xReply  to  Cotton,  p.  123.  2Gorton's  Defence,  [132.] 


112  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

not  carnal  and  walk  as  men  ?"  The  same  query  may  be 
made  concerning  those  contentions  betwixt  Gorton  and  his 
opponents. 

Those  in  Massachusetts  professed  a  high  regard  to  their 
charter,  when  they  banished  Mr.  Williams  ;  but  that  gave 
them  no  right  to  any  land  or  government,  further  than  three 
miles  south  of  their  bay,  and  of  every  part  of  Charles  River. 
That  line  crosses  the  great  post  road  near  landlord  Maxcy's, 
in  Attleborough,  from  whence  to  Pawtuxct  river  is  nineteen 
miles  ;  and  Shawomet  is  still  further  southward  ;  yet  we  are 
plainly  told  that  Arnold  and  his  company  were  received 
"  partly  to  draw  in  the  rest,  either  under  themselves  or 
Plymouth.1  And  when  Gorton  and  his  friends  were  got  out 
of  Arnold's  reach,  two  petty  sachems  were  taken  in  to 
found  a  claim  upon,  though  it  was  known  that  Miantinomu 
was  so  much  above  them,  that  he  sold  Providence  and  Paw- 
tuxet  over  their  heads,  some  years  before,  in  which  was 
contained  the  best  title  that  Arnold's  company  had  to  their 
lands.  What  work  then  did  they  make,  in  first  enticing 
subjects  to  revolt  from  their  prince,  and  then  in  killing  him 
because  he  was  uneasy  about  it !  Had  they  not  been  blinded 
with  such  a  zeal  as  the  disciples  had,  when  they  were  for 
having  fire  to  come  down  and  consume  the  Samaritans,  surely 
they  would  not  have  violated  the  rules  of  justice  and  equity 
as  they  did.  They  tried  afterwards  to  vindicate  their  con- 
duct by  the  claim  of  Plymouth  to  that  land,  and  upon  an  act 
of  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  concerning  it.2 
But  Plymouth  patent  extended  no  farther  westward  than 
Narragansett  river,  and  the  utmost  limits  of  Pocanokit  or 
Sawamset.  that  is  Osamaquin  or  Massasoit's  territories  ;3  and 
we  have  before  heard  how  they  fell  short  of  the  lands  in 
question.  Further,  the  commissioners  pleaded,  that  Mianti- 
nomu engaged  by  treaty,  not  to  begin  war  with  Uncas  with- 
out  first  appealing   to   the  English;    yet  had  broken   that 

'Hubbard,  [344.]  'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  125,  [117.] 

'Prince's  Chronology,  p.  197.  [269.] 


[1644.]  WILLIAMS  AND  GORTON  COMPARED.  113 

agreement.1  But  a  very  credible  writer  of  their  own  informs 
us,  that  Miantinomu  first  sent  his  complaint  to  Hartford 
against  Uncas  ;  and  when  they  refused  to  meddle  in  Sequas- 
tion's  quarrel,  he  would  know  whether  they  would  be 
offended  if  he  should  make  war  upon  Uncas  ?  And  that 
they  left  him  to  take  his  course,2  so  that  their  case  in  truth 
was,  like  that  of  other  invaders  of  their  neighbor's  rights  ; 
they  were  in  danger  of  being  awfully  requited,  by  a  man  so 
sensible  and  powerful  as  Miantinomu,  if  he  was  not  taken 
out  of  the  way.  This  evil  is  greatly  to  be  lamented,  and 
should  ever  stand  as  a  solemn  warning  to  us  all,  to  beware  of 
taking  one  step  into  any  course  of  injustice,  deceit  or  cruelty; 
for  it  will  surely  prove  bitterness  in  the  latter  end. 

Had  Gorton  been  duly  aware  of  this,  he  would  not  have 
armed  Miantinomu  against  Uncas,  for  no  better  reason,  that 
we  know  of,  than  because  he,  being  a  warlike  prince,  stood 
in  the  way  of  his  forming  an  Indian  party  sufficient  to  with- 
stand or  overcome  the  Massachusetts  ;  which  proceeding, 
together  with  his  irritating  writings  against  their  rulers  and 
ministers,  was  the  evident  cause  of  things  being  carried  to 
the  dreadful  extremity  they  were.  Mr.  Williams  ever  bore 
as  plain  and  full  testimony  against  their  persecuting  any  man 
for  matters  of  conscience,  as  Gorton  could  ;  and  had  a  much 
greater  influence  over  the  Indians  than  he  ever  had ;  yet  he 
was  so  far  from  trying  to  raise  a  heathen  party  against 
Christians,  to  correct  them  for  injuries  done  to  himself,  that 
he  exerted  himself  with  great  assiduity  to  prevent  any  thing 
of  that  nature ;  by  which  he  undoubtedly  was  the  greatest 
instrument  of  saving  New  England  of  any  one  man  that 
lived  in  that  day,  and  for  which  his  memory  is  and  will  be 
blessed. 

Among  the  reasoners  of  our  world,  some  will  not  allow, 
that  men  are  influenced  in  all  their  voluntary  actions  by  pre- 
vious causes  and  motives,  while  others  incline   so  much  to 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  140.  2Hubbard,  [450.] 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

infidelity  as  to  represent,  that  the  very  notion  of  religion,  or 
of  persons  thinking  that  the  Deity  loves  them  better  than 
others,  tends  to  make  them  hate  and  treat  those  ill  who,  as 
they  suppose,  are  not  thus  beloved.  But  as  nothing  teaches 
like  experience,  let  the  experience  of  those  fathers  be  con- 
sidered, aud  the  light  which  facts  give  in  the  case  be 
regarded,  beyond  all  the  suppositions  or  wrangles  of  dispu- . 
tants.  Is  it  not  evident,  that  those  several  contending  parties 
were  influenced  in  all  their  bad  actions  by  the  same  princi- 
ples of  ambition,  avarice,  deceit,  and  resentment,  that  other 
men  are  ?  And  is  it  not  as  evident,  that  those  actions  which 
were  good  and  praiseworthy,  flowed  from  a  hearty  belief  of 
revealed  religion,  especially  of  free  salvation  by  Christ 
Jesus  ]  At  present  we  will  take  a  view  of  the  head  men  of 
the  three  parties  of  Boston,  Warwick  and  Providence. 

Governor  Winthrop  was  in  such  esteem  in  his  native 
country,  as  to  be  made  a  justice  of  peace  at  the  age  of  eight- 
een ;  had  an  estate  of  six  or  seven  hundred  pounds  sterling 
per  annum ;  yet  sold  it,  and  spent  the  main  of  it  in  promot- 
ing a  religious  settlement  in  this  wilderness  ;  where  for  all 
his  vast  labor  and  pains,  in  settling  and  managing  the  gov- 
ernment, he  for  some  years  had  no  stated  salary,  and  never 
had  more  than  one  hundred  pounds  a  year ;  was  several 
times  very  ungratefully  treated  by  his  own  people  ;  and  what 
could  carry  him  through  all  this  with  cheerfulness  to  the 
end,  but  the  power  of  religion  ?* 

'What  his  religious  sentiments  were,  the  reader  may  form  some  judgment  by  the 
following  extracts.  In  the  first  part  of  his  administration  as  Governor,  he  said, 
"  In  the  infancy  of  plantations,  justice  should  he  administered  with  more  lenity  than 
in  a  settled  state ;  hecause  people  are  more  apt  then  to  transgress ;  partly  out  of 
ignorance  of  new  laws  and  orders,  partly  out  of  oppression  of  husiness  and  other 
straits."  But  when  some  leading  and  learned  men  took  offence  at  his  conduct  in  this 
matter,  and  upon  a  conference,  gave  it  as  their  opinion,  that  a  stricter  discipline  was 
to  lie  used  in  the  beginning  of  a  plantation,  than  after  its  being  with  more  age  estab- 
lished and  confirmed,  the  Governor  being  readier  to  see  his  own  errors  than  other 
men't,  professed  his  purpose  to  endeavor  their  satisfaction  witji  less  lenity  in  his 
administrations."  [Magnalia,  B.  2,  Vol.  I,  pp.  110,  111.]  From  this  we  may  guess  at 

the  caQje  Of  the  severities  we  have  heeii   treating  of. 
Hi-  expenses  were  great,  and  for  two  years  he  had  no  settled  salary,  yet  the  divine 


[1(544.1        CHARACTER  OF  GOVERNOR  WINTHROP.        115 

Gorton,  as  we  have  seen,  had  a  notion  that  the  child  was 
born  in  him  and  his  followers,  who  had  the  government  up- 
on his  shoulders,  and  he  concurred  with  Wheelwright  in 
treating  those  who  opposed  their  religious  sentiments  as  en- 
emies to  the  state ;  which  principle  evidently  moved  him  to 

precept  against  taking  bribes,  had  such  influence  upon  his  mind,  that  when  he  was 
the  third  time  chosen  Governor,  May  8,  1632,  he  told  the  people  publicly,  "  that  he 
had  received  gratuities  from  divers  towns,  which  he  received  with  much  comfort 
and  content ;  he  had  also  received  many  kindnesses  from  particular  persons,  which 
he  could  not  refuse,  lest  he  should  be  accounted  uncourteous,  &c,  but  he  professed 
he  received  them  with  a  trembling  heart,  in  regard  to  God's  rule,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  infirmity,  and  therefore  desired  that  hereafter  they  would  not  take 
it  ill  if  he  should  refuse  presents  from  particular  persons,  except  the  assistance  of 
some  special  friends.  To  which  no  answer  was  made ;  but  he  is  told  after,  that 
many  good  people  were  much  grieved  at  it,  for  that  he  never  had  any  allowance 
toward  the  charge  of  his  place."     [Prince's  Chronology,  pp.  394,  395.] 

After  he  had  acted  in  banishing  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  others,  many  of  their  friends 
in  Boston  church,  whereof  he  was  a  member,  were  earnest  with  the  elders  to  have 
the  church  call  him  forth  as  an  offender,  for  passing  that  sentence,  which  he  under- 
standing, took  occasion  to  make  a  public  speech  to  them  upon  it,  in  which  he  said  : — 
"  As  for  myself,  I  did  nothing  in  the  causes  of  any  of  the  brethren,  but  by  advice  of 
the  elders  of  the  church.  Moreover,  in  the  oath  which  I  have  taken  there  is  this 
clause,  '  In  all  causes  wherein  you  are  to  give  your  vote,  you  shall  do  as  in  your 
judgment  and  conscience  you  shall  see  to  be  just,  and  for  the  public  good.'  And  I 
am  satisfied  it  is  most  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  public  good,  that  there  be  such 
a  sentence  passed ;  yea,  those  brethren  are  so  divided  from  the  rest  of  the  country 
in  their  opinions  and  practices  that  it  cannot  stand  with  the  public  peace  for  them  to 
continue  with  us ;  Abraham  saw  that  Hagar  and  Ishmael  must  be  sent  away." 
[Magnalia,  B.  2,  Vol.  I,  pp.  114,  115.] 

Seven  years  after,  upon  a  hot  debate  between  the  magistrates  and  deputies  about 
who  should  have  the  negative  vote,  Governor  Winthrop  wrote  his  mind  upon  it, 
some  passages  whereof  gave  offence  to  some  noted  men,  which  he  understanding, 
made  the  following  speech  at  the  next  General  Court,  viz. :  "  As  for  the  matter  of 
my  writing,  I  had  the  concurrence  of  my  brethren ;  it  is  a  point  of  judgment  which 
is  not  at  my  own  disposing.  I  have  examined  it  over  and  over  again,  by  such  light 
as  God  has  given  me,  from  the  rules  of  religion,  reason  and  custom ;  and  I  see  no 
cause  to  retract  anything  of  it ;  wherefore  1  must  enjoy  my  liberty  in  that,  as  you 
do  yourselves.  But  for  the  manner,  this,  and  all  that  was  blameworthy  in  it,  was 
wholly  my  own ;  and  whatsoever  I  might  allege  for  my  own  justification  before 
men,  I  waive  it,  as  now  setting  myself  before  another  judgment-seat.  However, 
what  I  wrote  was  upon  great  provocation,  and  to  vindicate  myself  and  others  from 
great  aspersion ;  yet  that  was  no  sufficient  warrant  for  me  to  allow  any  distemper  of 
spirit  in  myself;  and  I  doubt  I  have  been  too  prodigal  of  my  brethren's  reputation. 
I  might  have  maintained  my  cause  without  casting  any  blemish  upon  others.  When 
I  made  that  my  conclusion,  '  And  now  let  religion  and  sound  reason  give  judgment 
in  the  case,'  it  looked  as  if  I  arrogated  too  much  unto  myself,  and  too  little  to  others. 
And  when  I  made  that  profession,  '  that  I  would  maintain  what  I  wrote  before  all 
the  world,'  though  such  words  might  modestly  be  spoken,  yet  I  perceive  an  unbe- 


116  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

endeavor  to  raise  what  force  he  could  against  them,  even 
from  among  the  barbarians  ;  and  also  to  treat  them  with  such 
a  temper  as  he  did  from  time  to  time.  Even  so  late  as  the 
year  1676,  the  very  title  of  the  book  he  then  published 
shows  the  spirit  of  it ;  which  is  exactly  in  these  words, 
viz. : — 

A  glass  for  New  England,  in  "which  they  may  see  themselves  and  spirits, 
and,  if  not  too  late,  repent  and  turn  from  their  abominable  ways  and  cursed 
contrivances.     By  S.  G. 

seeming  pride  of  my  own  heart  breathing  in  them.  For  these  failings  I  ask  pardon 
both  of  God  and  man.     Ibid,  [p.  115.] 

Once  more;  when  a  great  disturbance  had  been  made  in  the  colony  by  Dr.  Child 
and  others,  in  1G4G,  Governor  Winthrop  was  called  to  an  account  for  his  actings 
against  them,  before  a  great  assembly,  but  he  was  openly  acquitted ;  upon  which  he 
said.  "  Though  I  am  justified  before  men,  yet  it  may  be  the  Lord  hath  seen  so  much 
amiss  in  my  administrations,  as  calls  me  to  be  humbled ;  and  indeed  for  me  to  have 
been  thus  charged  by  men,  is  itself  a  matter  of  humiliation,  whereof  I  desire  to 
make  a  right  use  before  the  Lord.  If  Miriam's  father  spit  in  her  face,  she  is  to  be 
ashamed.  But  give  me  leave  before  you  go  to  say  something  that  may  rectify  the 
opinions  of  many  people,  from  whence  the  distempers  have  risen  that  have  lately 
prevailed  upon  the  body  of  this  people.  The  questions  that  have  troubled  the  coun- 
try have  been  about  the  authority  of  the  magistracy,  and  the  liberty  of  the  people. 
It  is  you  who  have  called  us  unto  this  office  ;  but  being  thus  called,  we  have  our  au- 
thority from  God;  it  is  the  ordinance  of  God,  and  it  hath  the  image  of  God  stamped 
upon  it ;  and  the  contempt  of  it  has  been  vindicated  by  God  by  terrible  examples  of 
his  vengeance.  I  entreat  you  to  consider,  that  when  you  choose  magistrates,  you 
take  from  among  yourselves  men  subject  unto  like  passions  with  yourselves.  If 
you  see  our  infirmities,  reflect  on  your  own,  and  you  will  not  be  so  severe  censurers 
of  ours.  We  count  him  a  good  servant  who  breaks  not  his  covenant.  The  cove- 
nant between  us  and  you  is  the  oath  you  have  taken  of  us,  which  is  to  this  purpose, 
1  that  we  shall  govern  you,  and  judge  your  causes,  according  to  God's  laws,  and  our 
own,  according  to  our  best  skill.'  As  for  our  skill,  you  must  run  the  hazard  of  that ; 
and  if  there  be  an  error,  not  in  the  will,  but  in  the  skill,  it  becomes  you  to  bear  it. 
IS'or  would  I  have  you  to  mistake  in  the  point  of  your  own  liberty.  There  is  a  lib- 
erty of  corrupt  nature,  which  is  affected  both  by  men  and  beasts,  to  do  what  they 
list;  and  this  liberty  is  inconsistent  with  authority,  impatient  of  all  restraint;  by 
this  liberty,  sumus  ornnes  deteriores  :  It  is  the  grand  enemy  of  truth  and  peace,  and 
all  the  ordinances  of  God  are  bent  against  it.  But  there  is  a  civil,  a  moral,  a  fede- 
ral liberty,  which  is  the  proper  end  and  object  of  authority  :  it  is  a  liberty  for  that  only 
which  is  just  and  good  ;  for  this  liberty  you  are  to  stand  with  the  hazard  of  your  very 
lives  ;  and  whatsoever  crosses  it,  is  not  authority,  but  a  distemper  thereof.  This  lib- 
erty is  maintained  in  a  way  of  subjection  to  authority  ;  and  the  authority  set  over  you, 
will  in  all  administrations  for  your  good  be  quietly  submitted  unto,  by  all  but  such  as 
have  a  disposition  to  shake  off  the  yoke,  and  lose  their  true  liberty,  by  their  mur- 
muring at  the  honor  and  power  of  authority."     Ibid.  [pp.  11G,  117.] 

O,  had  it  not  been  for  the  mistaken  notion  of  using  secular  iorce  in  religious  af- 
fairs, how  gloriously  would  this  and  other  New  England  fathers  have  sinned! 


[1644.]  MOTIVES  OF  GORTON  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  117 

And  as  the  Quakers  were  about  that  time  accused  by  au- 
thority of  setting  up  their  posts  by  God's  posts,  he  says  : — 

I  hope  none  will  be  so  blind  and  ignorant  as  to  set  their  posts  or  thresh- 
olds to  the  devil's  post,  and  the  professors  of  New  England's  posts,  viz., 
their  whipping-post  or  gallows-post ;  no  nor  yet  join  their  threshold  to  their 
gaol-thresholds,  nor  their  bridewell-threshold,  over  which  and  in  which  pro- 
fessors and  talkers  of  God  and  Christ  do  and  have  hauled  over  lambs  and 
followers  of  Christ,  and  in  which  they  crop  their  ears,  and  out  of  which 
they  bring  them  in  their  wills  and  madness,  and  banish,  whip  and  hang 
them  in  their  blind  zeal.     Pp.  17,  18. 

And  he  annexes  to  said  book  a  letter  to  Governor  Belling- 
ham,  dated  from  Boston  prison  June  15,  1667,  written  by 
John  Tyso,  a  Quaker,  who  speaks  of  it  as  a  great  error  in 
Dr.  Increase  Mather  to  say,  "  there  was  nothing  in  him  that 
he  hoped  to  be  saved  by,  and  that  there  was  none  cleansed 
from  all  sin  on  this  side  the  grave."  P.  35.  Gorton  like- 
wise speaking  of  Wheelwright's  being  first  called  before  the 
General  Court  for  his  sermon,  at  their  session  in  March, 
1637,  tells  us  that  Mr.  Cotton  then  said  : — 

Brother  Wheelwright's  doctrine  was  according  to  God,  in  the  point  con- 
troverted,   and  wholly   and  altogether ;  and  nothing  did  I   hear    alleged 

against  the  doctrine  proved   by  the  word  of  God But,   [says  G.] 

that  which  is  most  to  be  lamented,  is  that  those  which  once  had  a  good 
testimony  in  their  hearts  and  mouths  for  God,  and  his  light  and  spiritual 
appearance  ;  and  they  not  being  faithful  and  constant  to  that  which  is  made 
manifest  and  committed  to  them,  it  has  even  happened  to  them  according 
to  the  saying  of  the  Lord  God,  by  the  mouth  of  his  prophet,  that  "  in  the 
day  in  which  a  righteous  man  turns  from  his  righteousness,  aud  doth 
wickedly,  all  the  righteousness  that  he  hath  doue  shall  be  forgotten,  and  in 
the  sin  which  he  hath  sinned  he  shall  surely  die  the  death."     Pp.  6,  7. 

Now  is  it  not  evident,  that  the  Massachusetts  were  moved 
by  the  same  unreasonable  principle  of  grasping  at  power 
and  gain  that  belonged  not  to  them,  in  their  dealings  with 
Gorton,  as  operates  in  other  men,  though  it  went  under  a 
cloak  of  religion]  And  is  it  not  as  evident  that  he  was 
moved  with  self-conceit,  and  carnal  wit  and  resentment,  in 
his  carriage  towards  them,   notwithstanding  all  his  talk  of 


118  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  child's  being  born  in  him,  and  of  a  creating  power  "  for 
ever  to  form  all  things  out  of  that  ancient  chaos  of  God  and 
man  being  made  one!"  Neither  of  these  things  can  hurt 
the  truth  and  excellency  of  the  Christian  religion,  any  more 
than  the  self  confidence,  rashness  and  dissimulation  of  Peter 
did  on  the  one  hand,  or  the  blasphemy  of  Hymeneus  and 
Alexander  on  the  other.  Though  some  would  have  it,  that 
Mr.  Williams,  after  his  banishment,  left  revealed  religion, 
and  took  to  the  exercise  of  reason  and  humanity,  in  distinc- 
tion from  it,  yet  his  own  testimony  is  exceeding  clear  to  the 
contrary.  In  his  address  to  the  Quakers  thirty-seven  years 
after  his  banishment  he  says  : — 

The  truth  is,  from  my  childhood, -now  above  threescore  years,  the  Father 
of  lights  and  mercies  touched  my  soul  with  a  love  to  himself,  to  his  only 
begotten,  the  true  Lord  Jesus  to  his  holy  Scriptures,  &c.  His  infinite  wis- 
dom hath  given  me  to  see  the  city,  court  and  country,  the  schools  and  uni- 
versities of  my  native  country,  to  converse  with  some  Turks,  Jews,  papists, 
and  all  sorts  of  protestants,  and  by  books  to  know  the  affairs  and  religions 
of  all  countries.  My  conclusion  is,  that,  "  Be  of  good  cheer  ;  thy  sins  are 
forgiven  thee,"  Matt,  ix.,  is  one  of  the  joyfulest  sounds  that  ever  came  to 
poor  sinful  ears.  How  to  obtain  this  sound  from  the  mouth  of  the  Media- 
tor that  spoke  it,  is  the  greatest  dispute  between  the  protestants  and  the 
bloody  whore  of  Rome.  This  is  also  the  great  point  between  the  true 
protestant  and  yourselves ;  as  also,  in  order  to  this,  about  what  man  is  now 
by  nature,  and  what  the  true  Lord  Jesus  is."1 

And  upon  their  use  of  those  words  spoken  to  the  saints, 
"  The  manifestation  of  the  spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to 
profit  withal,"  and  other  like  expressions,  which  they  would 
apply  to  mankind  in  general,  he  says  : — 

The  Papists  catch  hold  upon  a  letter,  "  This  is  my  body  ;"  you  as  simply 
as  do  the  Generalists  catch  hold  upon  theletter :  "^4/7,"  "Every  man"  &c, 
whereas  the  scope  and  connection  in  all  writings,  and  in  all  matters  in  the 
world,  is  rationally  to  be  minded.     The  sense  and  meaning  is,  in  all  speech 

'Dedication  of  his  book  against  the  Quakers,  1G73. — B. 

In  a  subsequent  notice  of  this  book,  Backus  gives  its  proper  title, — "George  Fox 
digged  out  of  bis  Burrowes,'' — but  witb  a  censure  of  sucb  personalities  of  language 
on  tbe  part  of  botli  Williams  and  bis  opponents.  He  uniformly  quotes  the  work  as 
Williams's  "  book  against  tbe  Quakers."— Ed. 


[1644.]  LATER  VIEWS  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS.  119 

and  writing,  the  very  speech  and  writing  itself.  The  words  All,  and  Every 
one,  in  our  own  and  other  tongues,  are  often  used  figuratively.  It  is  so  all 
the  Scripture  over,  and  thrice  in  one  verse,  Col.  i,  28,  where  reason  cannot 
imagine  that  Paul  did  literally  and  individually  admonish  every  man,  teach 
every  man,  and  present  every  man  that  comes  into  the  world  perfect  in 
Christ  Jesus,  which  could  not,  cannot  possibly  be  true,  without  another 
sense  and  exposition  than  the  words  literally  hold  out.1 

And  when  they  demanded  the  reason  why  he  condemned 
them  for  not  holding  to  the  external  use  of  baptism  and  the 
supper,  while  he  did  not  live  in  the  practice  thereof  himself, 
he  answered : — 

It  is  one  thing  to  be  in  arms  against  the  King  of  kings,  and  the  visible 
administration  of  his  kingdom,  and  to  turn  off  all  to  notions  of  an  invisi- 
ble kingdom,  officers,  and  worship,  as  the  Quakers,  do,  and  another  thing, 
among  so  many  pretenders  to  be  the  true  church,  to  be  in  doubt  unto  which 
to  associate  himself.  After  all  my  search  and  examinations,  I  said,  I  do 
profess  to  believe,  that  some  come  nearer  to  the  first  churches  and  institu- 
tions of  Christ  than  others  ;  as  in  many  respects,  so  in  that  gallant, 
heavenly  and  fundamental  principle,  of  the  true  matter  of  a  Christian  socie- 
ty, viz.  :  actual  believers,  true  disciples  and  converts,  and  living  stones,  such 
as  can  give  some  account  how  the  grace  of  God  hath  appeared  to  them, 
and  wrought  that  heavenly  change  in  them.  I  professed  that  if  my  soul 
could  find  rest  in  joining  unto  any  of  the  churches  professing  Christ  now 
extant,  I  would  readily  and  gladly  do  it,  yea,  unto  themselves  whom  I  now 
opposed.  But  not  finding  rest,  they  knew  there  is  a  time  of  purity,  and 
primitive  sincerity  ;  there  is  a  time  of  transgression  and  apostacy,  and  there 
is  a  time  of  the  coming  out  of  the  Babylonian  and  wilderness  apostacy2. 

These  extracts  may  assist  the  reader  in  forming  a  true 
judgment  of  the  motives  upon  which  those  several  noted 
men  acted  in  those  difficult  times,  which  also  may  he  useful 
now  to  teach  us  all,  what  to  avoid  and  what  to  pursue  ;  the 
importance  of  which  I  hope  will  sufficiently  apologize 
for  the  length  of  this  acconnt,  and  also  make  the  reader  wil- 
ling to  take  an  article  or  two  more  before  we  conclude 
this  chapter. 

The  church  at  Plymouth  was  so  unwilling  to  part  with  ,;a 
man  of  such  eminence"  as  Mr.  Chauncy,  that  they  conceded 

*Against  the  Quakers,  pp.  8,  9.  2Against  the  Quakers,  pp.  65,  66. 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

in  case  he  would  settle  with  them,  that  he  should  act  accord- 
ing to  his  persuasion,  which  was  that  "  baptism  ought  only 
to  be  by  dipping  or  plunging  the  whole  body  under  water," 
with  such  as  desired  it,  either  for  themselves  or  infants,  pro- 
vided he  could  without  offience  suffer  their  other  minister, 
Mr.  Reyner,  to  practice  in  the  other  way,  with  those  who 
desired  it ;  ':  but  he  did  not  see  light  to  comply."1  From 
thence  he  was  called  to  office  in  the  church  at  Scituate.  Mr. 
Wintkrop  says : — 

Mr.  Chauncy  of  Scituate,  persevered  in  his  opinion  of  dipping  in  bap- 
tism, and  practiced  accordingly,  first  upon  two  of  his  own  children,  which 
being  in  very  cold  weather,  one  of  them  swooned  away.  Another,  having 
a  child  about  three  years  old,  feared  it  would  be  frighted,  (as  others  had 
been,  and  one  caught  hold  of  Mr.  Chauncy,  and  had  near  pulled  him  into 
the  water)  she  brought  her  child  to  Boston  (with  letters  testimonial  from 
Mr.  Chauncy)  and  had  it  baptised  here.2 

Tkis  last  action  was  in  July,  1642  ;  and  not  long  after  Mr. 
Wintkrop  writes  : — 

The  lady  Moody,  a  wise  and  amiable3  religious  woman,  being  taken  with 
the  error  of  denying  baptism  to  infants,  was  dealt  withal  by  many  of  the 
elders  and  others,  and  admonished  by  the  church  at  Salem,  (whereof  she 
was)  but  persisting  still,  and  to  avoid  further  trouble,  she  removed  to  the 
Dutch,  against  the  advice  of  her  friends.  Many  others  infested  with  Ana- 
baptism,  &c,  removed  thither  also.     She  was  after  excommunicated.4 

Here  as  well  as  elsewkere  appears  tke  konesty  and  ingenuous- 
ness of  tkis  great  man,  in  stating  facts  plainly,  wken  tkey  make 
directly  against  kis  own  persuasion.  Tkose  wko  deny  infant 
baptism  kave  been  reproacked  from  age  to  age  with  tke 
name  of  Anabaptists,  under  wkick  kave  been  coucked  suck 
dreadful  ideas,  that  even  to  tkis  day  we  see  tke  very  name 
used  as  an   argument  in  various  controversies ;  so  that  if  a 

'Plymouth  Register,  pp.  5,  6.  2\Vintlirop,  Vol.  II,  p. 72.— Ed. 

'Savage  readfl  "anciently"  instead  of  "  amiable;"  and  adds  in  a  note,  "  I  fear  wc 
must  infer  from  the  text  that  her  perversion  to  Anabaptism  deprived  her  in  the 
writer's  opinion,  of  the  'anciently  religious1  character."  Winthrop,  Vol.  II,  p. 
128.  [f  this  reading  and  inference  be  correct,  it  will  detract  somewhat  from  the 
praise  awarded  to  Winthrop  in  the  next  paragraph. — Ki>. 

•Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  123,  124.] 


[1644.]  WILLIAMS  AS  A  PEACEMAKER.  121 

disputant  can  tell  his  opponent,  he  in  that  point  agrees  with 
the  Anabaptists,  it  is  thought  that  therein  he  must  be  in  an 
error ;  but  our  honorable  author  gives,  without  a  covering, 
the  good  characters  and  virtues  of  that  father  and  that 
mother  in  our  Israel,  at  the  same  time  that  he  describes 
plainly  what  he  disliked  in  them  ;  leaving  fair  grounds  for 
others  to  judge  upon,  without  being  biased  with  any  old 
stories  of  German  madness.  By  this  it  appears  that  the 
grand  difficulty  in  the  way  of  burying  in  baptism,  is  their 
admitting  of  subjects  to  it  who  have  not  the  faith  or  the 
discretion  which  is  necessary  for  such  an  action. 

Though  Mr.  Williams  had  done  such  great  services  for 
his  English  neighbors,  in  the  late  wars,  yet  he  was  not  per- 
mitted to  pass  through  their  coasts,  but  was  forced  to  repair 
to  the  Dutch  to  get  a  passage  to  his  native  country.  Yea, 
it  must  needs  be  so,  because  the  blessings  of  a  peacemaker 
were  to  come  upon  him,  among  the  Dutch  as  well  as 
English.1 

*As  a  distinct  account  of  this  affair  has  not  been  published  among  us,  I  shall  give 
it  a  place  here.  When  the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  met  in  September, 
1643,  they  were  informed  of  a  Dutch  ship  that  had  arrived  in  Hudson's  River,  which 
brought  four  thousand  pounds  of  powder,  and  seven  hundred  pieces,  to  trade  with 
the  natives ;  but  the  Dutch  governor,  having  notice  thereof,  prudently  confiscated 
them  to  the  use  of  the  company ;  thereby  depriving  their  enemies  of  arms,  whereby 
they  might  themselves  have  been  destroyed,  and  furnishing  themselves  and  friends 
with  weapons  for  their  safety ;  for  at  this  time  the  Indians  had  fierce  war  with  the 
Dutch,  and  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  assistance  for  the  English,  they  might  have 
been  all  cut  off.  The  occasion  of  the  war  was  this  : — An  Indian  being  drunk,  had 
slain  an  old  Dutchman ;  the  Dutch  required  the  murderer,  but  he  could  not  be  had. 
The  people  called  often  upon  the  governor  to  take  revenge,  but  he  still  put  it  off, 
because  he  thought  it  not  just,  or  not  safe.  It  fell  out  in  that  time,  that  the  Maquas 
or  Mohawks,  either  upon  their  own  quarrel  or  (as  the  report  was)  being  set  on  by 
the  Dutch,  came  suddenly  upon  the  Indians  near  the  Dutch,  and  killed  about  thirty 
of  them ;  the  rest  fled  for  shelter  to  the  Dutch.  One  Marine,  a  Dutch  captain, 
hearing  of  it,  went  to  the  governor  and  obtained  a  commission  to  kill  as  many  as  he 
could  of  them,  and  accordingly  went  with  a  company  of  armed  men,  and  set  upon 
them,  when  they  feared  no  such  thing  from  the  Dutch,  and  killed  seventy  or  eighty 
men,  women  and  children.  Upon  this  the  Indians  burnt  divers  of  their  farm  houses, 
and  their  cattle  in  them,  and  slew  all  they  could  meet  with,  to  the  number  of  twenty 
or  more,  of  men,  women  and  children,  and  pursued  hard  upon  the  Dutch,  even  home 
to  their  fort  Aurania  (Albany)  so  that  they  were  forced  to  call  in  the  English  to 
their  aid,  and  entertained  Captain  Underhill  in  their  service.     Marine  was  so  much 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

When  Mr.  Williams  arrived  in  England,  he  found  the 
country  involved  in  the  dreadful  calamities  and  horrors  of  a 
war  between  the  king  and  parliament ;  but  the  parliament 
having  the  command  of  the  fleet,  did  by  an  ordinance  of 
November  2,  1643,  appoint  commissioners  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  islands  and  other  plantations  ;  from  whom,  by 
the  kind  assistance  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  was  one  of 
them,  Mr.  Williams  obtained  a  charter,  including  the  lands 
"  bordering  northward  and  northeast  on  the  patent  of  the 
Massachusetts,  east  and  southeast  on  Plymouth  patent,  south 
on  the  ocean,  and  on  the  wrest  and  northwest  by  the  Indians 
called  Narragansetts ;  the  whole  tract  extending  about 
twenty-five  miles,  unto  the  Pequod  river  and  country ;"  "  to 
be  known  by  the  name  of  The  Incorporation  of  Providence 
Plantations,  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New  England." 
To  the  English  inhabitants  of  the  tract  aforesaid,  the  charter 
gives  "  full  power  and  authority  to  rule  themselves,  and  such 
others  as  shall  hereafter  inhabit  within  any  part  of  the  said 
tract  of  land,  by  such  form  of  civil  government,  as  by  vol- 

enraged  to  see  Underhill  preferred  before  him,  that  his  governor  was  forced  at  last 
to  send  him  home  in  chains.  About  this  time  Captain  Patrick,  who  went  from  Bos- 
ton, was  shot  dead  by  a  Dutchman,  upon  a  Lord's  day,  at  Stamford.  Though  the 
people  were  all  for  war  before,  yet  now  they  were  so  much  offended  with  the  gov- 
ernor, that  he  entertained  a  guard  of  fifty  English  about  his  person.  And  the 
Indians  annoyed  them  so  by  sudden  assaults  out  of  swamps,  &c,  that  he  was  forced 
to  keep  a  running  army  to  oppose  them  upon  all  occasions.  The  Indians  killed  and 
drove  all  before  them  as  far  as  Stamford ;  slew  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  family,  all 
except  one  whom  they  captivated.  They  passed  over  to  Long  Island,  and  the  natives 
there  took  part  with  them,  and  began  to  burn  the  Dutchmen's  houses  ;  assaulted  the 
house  of  the  lady  Moody,  who  not  long  before  moved  away  from  Salem  upon  the 
account  of  Anabaptism ;  but  she  was  defended  by  forty  men  that  gathered  to  her 
house,  which  they  assaulted  divers  times.  But  the  Long  Island  Indians,  by  the 
mediation  of  Mr.  Williams,  (who  was  then  there  to  take  ship  for  England,)  were 
pacified,  and  peace  re-established  between  the  Dutch  and  them.  But  still  upon  the 
main,  they  set  upon  the  Dutch  with  an  implacable  fury,  killing  all  they  could  come 
by,  burning  their  houses,  and  destroying  their  cattle,  without  any  resistance;  so  as 
the  governor  and  such  as  escaped  betook  themselves  to  their  fort  at  Manhatoes  (New 
York)  and  there  lived  upon  their  cattle.  But  many  of  the  Indians  being  destroyed 
by  Captain  Underhill  and  his  followers,  at  last  they  be^an  to  be  weary  of  the  sport, 
and  condescended  to  terms  of  peace."  Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  135,  151.]  Ilubhard, 
[440—442.] 


[1644.]  CHAETER  OBTAINED  BY  WILLIAMS.  123 

untary  consent  of  all,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  they 
shall  find  most  suitable  to  their  estate  and  condition,"  provided 
"  the  civil  government  of  the  said  plantations,  be  conform- 
able to  the  laws  of  England,  so  far  as  the  nature  and  con- 
stitution of  the  place  will  admit." 

This  charter  was  signed  March  14,  1644,  by  Robert  War- 
wick, Philip  Pembroke,  Say  and  Seal,  Philip  Wharton, 
Arthur  Haslerig,  Cornelius  Holland,  Henry  Vane,  Samuel 
Vassel,  John  Eolle,  Miles  Corbet,  and  William  Spurstow.1 

>See  said  charter  in  the  History  of  Providence* 


CHAPTER    III. 


From  1644  to  1651,  containing  the  first  law  that  was  made  in  new 
england  against  the  baptists,  and  a  variety  of  other  events. 


The  first  Baptist  church  in  Newport,  we  are  told,  was 
formed  and  set  in  order  about  the  year  1644,  under  the  min- 
istry of  Mr.  John  Clarke.  It  is  the  first  church  of  any  de- 
nomination on  Hhode  Island  that  has  continued  by  succes- 
sion, and  the  second  in  the  colony.1     Also  in  Massachusetts 

xThe  first  certain  date  in  their  church  records  is  taken  from  a  manuscript  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Hubbard  in  1G48,  which  says  the  church  was  formed  about  the  year  1644, 
and  by  what  I  have  quoted  from  Winthrop  and  Hubbard,  it  appears  as  likely  to  be 
earlier  as  later  than  that  time. — B. 

The  entry  in  the  records  of  the  first  Baptist  church  in  Newport,  here  referred  to, 
was  made  by  John  Comer  as  late  as  1725,  and  is  as  follows  : — "  Having  found  a  pri- 
vate record  of  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard,  who  was  a  member  of  the  church,  by  which  I 
find  that  the  church  was  in  being  so  long  back  as  October  12,  1648,  (but  how  long 
before,  justly,  by  any  manuscript  I  can't  find,  but  by  private  information  it  was  con- 
stituted in  the  year  1644) — ."  Backus  should  therefore  have  given  the  above  date 
on  the  authority  of  John  Comer,  and  not  of  Samuel  Hubbard.  Comer  repeated  this 
testimony  in  a  manuscript  now  in  the  library  of  the  Backus  Historical  Society,  in 
the  words,  "The  church  was  first  gathered  by  Mr.  John  Clarke  about  the  year  1644." 
Callender  wrote  in  1738,  "  It  is  said  that  in  1644,  Mr.  John  Clarke  and  some  others 
formed  a  church  on  the  scheme  and  principles  of  the  Baptists."  Century  Sermon, 
Rhode  Island  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV.  p.  117.  There  is  probably  no  evi- 
dence that  Callender  or  any  subsequent  writer  who  has  given  the  above  date,  had 
any  authority  for  it  beyond  the  tradition  preserved  by  Comer.  Backus  represents 
that  an  earlier  date  is  possible.  Many  regard  the  weight  of  evidence  as  in  its  favor. 
Some  have  placed  it  as  far  back  as  1638,  supposing  that  the  church  was  founded  by 
Clarke  and  his  company  upon  their  arrival  on  Rhode  Island.  See  Minutes  of  the 
Warren  Association,  1849,  p.  14.  Winthrop,  indeed,  mentions  a  church  that  had 
been  gathered  at  Aquiday  as  early  as  1639,  but  Lechford  wrote  in  1640,  "  There  was 
a  church  where  one  Master  Clark  was  elder ;  the  place  where  the  church  was,  is 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

we  are  told  that  "Anabaptists  increased  and  spread  in  the 
country.''1  Upon  which  they  framed  and  passed  the  follow- 
ing act  at  their  General  Court.  November  13,  1644: — 

Forasmuch  as  experience  hath  plentifully  and  often  proved,  that  since 
the  first  rising  of  the  Anabaptists,  about  one  hundred  years  since,  they  have 
been  the  incendiaries  of  the  commonwealths,  and  the  infectors  of  persons 
in  main  matters  of  religion,  and  the  troublers  of  churches  in  all  places 
where  they  have  been,  and  that  they  who  have  held  the  baptizing  of  infants 
unlawful,  have  usually  held  other  errors  or  heresies  together  therewith, 
though  they  have  (as  other  heretics  use  to  do)  concealed  the  same  till  they 
spied  out  a  fit  advantage  and  opportunity  to  vent  them,  by  way  of  question 
or  scruple ;  and  whereas  divers  of  this  kind  have  since  our  coming  into 
New  England  appeared  amongst  ourselves,  some  whereof  (as  others  be- 
fore them)  denied  the  ordinance  of  magistracy,  and  the  lawfulness  of 
making  war,  and  others  the  lawfulness  of  magistrates,  and  their  iuspection 
into  any  breach  of  the  first  table  ;  which  opinions,  if  they  should  be  con- 
nived at  by  us,  are  like  to  be  increased  amongst  us,  and  so  must  necessa- 
rily bring  guilt  upon  us,  infection  and  trouble  to  the  churches,  and  hazard 
to  the  whole  commonwealth  ;  it  is  ordered  and  agreed,  that  if  any  person 
or  persons,  within  this  jurisdiction,  shall  either  openly  condemn  or  oppose  the 
baptizing  of  infants,  or  go  about  secretly  to  seduce  others  from  the  appro- 
bation or  use  thereof,  or  shall  purposely  depart  the  congregation  at  the  min- 
istration of  the  ordinance,  or  shall  deny  the  ordinance  of  magistracy,  or ' 
their  lawful  right  and  authority  to  make  war,  or  to  punish  the  outward 
breaches  of  the  first  table,  and  shall  appear  to  the  Court  willfully  and  ob- 
stinately to  continue  therein  after  due  time  and  means  of  conviction,  every 
such  person  or  persons  shall  be  sentenced  to  banishment.2 

called  Newport;  but  that  church,  I  hear,  is  now  dissolved,"  Winthrop's  Journal, 
Vol.  I,  p.  297 ;  Plain  Dealing,  Trumbull's  edition,  p.  93,  Some  place  the  date  of 
the  present  church  in  or  about  1G40,  supposing  that  it  succeeded  the  one  which,  ac- 
cording to  Lechford,  was  dissolved.  They  reason  from  the  improbability  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Rhode  Island  would  remain  four  years  without  an  organized  cburch, 
and  from  the  testimony  of  Wintbrop  in  1G41,  that  "  divers  of  tbem  turned  professed 
Anabaptists,"  and  that  there  arose  a  contention  and  a  schism  among  them.  See 
Wintbrop's  Journal,  Vol.  II,  pp.  38,  41.  These  indications  are  not  without  force, 
still,  if  a  church  was  formed  in  1G40  or  1041,  whetber  fully  or  partially  Baptist,  it 
may  bave  bad  but  a  brief  existence  and  have  been  succeeded  by  tbe  present  church 
in  1G44.  There  seems  to  be  as  yet  no  wiser  conclusion  than  that  of  Backus,  when 
be  gave  1644  as  the  only  date  which  has  any  positive  authority,  and  at  tbe  same 
time  allowed  tbe  possibility  of  a  date  still  earlier. — Ed. 

•Wintbrop,  [Vol.  II,  p.  174.]— Ed. 

'Massachuseltl  Records.  Mr.  Hubbard  speaking  of  their  making  this  law,  says, 
"  But  with  what  success  is  hard  to  say ;  all  men  being  naturally  inclined  to  pity 


[1644.]  LAW  AGAINST  BAPTISTS.  127 

Let  it  be  here  noted,  that  the  evident  design  of  this  law 
was  to  guard  against  such  as  refused  to  countenance  infant 
baptism,  and  the  use  of  secular  force  in  religious  affairs ; 
which  the  Baptists  have  ever  done  from  that  day  to  this  ; 
but  the  other  articles  inserted  in  this  act  they  have  not 
owned  ;  and  the  Court  then  had  no  proof  at  hand,  but  were 
forced  to  have  recourse  to  surmises,  distant  times,  and  for- 
eign countries,  for  them.  A  like  method  of  treating  the 
Baptists,  in  Courts,  from  pulpits  and  from  the  press,  has 
been  handed  down  by  tradition  ever  since.  And  can  we  be- 
lieve that  men  so  knowing  and  virtuous  in  other  respects, 
as  men  on  that  side  have  been,  would  have  introduced  and 
continued  in  a  way  of  treating  their  neighbors,  which  is  so 
unjust  and  scandalous,  if  they  could  have  found  better  ar- 
guments to  support  that  cause  upon  1  I  have  diligently 
searched  all  the  books,  records  and  papers  I  could  come  at 
upon  all  sides,  and  have  found  a  great  number  of  instances 

them  that  suffer,  how  much  soever  they  are  incensed  against  offenders  in  general. 
Natural  conscience  and  the  reverence  of  a  Deity,  that  is  deeply  engraven  on  the 
hearts  of  all,  make  men  more  apt  to  favor  them  that  suffer  for  religion,  true  or 
false."  [P.  373.]  A  judicious  remark;  yet  in  another  instance  we  may  see  how 
party  influence  can  blind  great  men.  For  this  author  in  1638  tells  us  of  Arnold's 
opposing  their  censuring  Verin  at  Providence,  for  refusing  to  let  his  wife  go  to  Mr. 
Williams's  meeting  so  often  as  she  was  called  for,  and  represents  that  to  censure 
Verin  therefor,  would  be  a  breach  of  God's  ordinance,  about  the  "  subjection  of 
wives  to  their  husbands."  [P.  437.]  But  the  same  author  informs  us,  that  in  1644 
one  Painter,  a  poor  man,  was  sudlenly  turned  Anabaptist,  "  and  having  a  child 
born,  would  not  suffer  his  wife  to  carry  it  to  be  baptized.  He  was  complained  of 
for  this  to  the  Court,  and  enjoined  by  them  to  suffer  his  child  to  be  baptized."  And 
because  he  refused  to  obey  them  therein,  and  told  them  it  was  an  antichristian  ordi- 
nance, they  tied  him  up  and  whipped  him ;  which  he  bare  without  flinching,  and  de- 
clared he  had  divine  help  to  support  him ;  "  upon  which,"  says  our  author,  "  two  or 
three  honest  men  that  were  his  neighbors  affirmed  that  he  was  of  very  loose  behav- 
ior at  home,"  &c.  [P.  342.]  Be  it  so  or  not,  we  have  no  better  account  of  Verin's 
character  than  of  his,  yet  Verin  must  not  be  censured  for  withholding  his  wife  from 
meeting ;  but  if  poor  Painter  would  not  give  up  the  disposal  of  his  children  to  his 
wife,  at  the  Court's  commandment,  he  must  not  only  be  censured,  but  also  suffer 
corporal  punishment ;  yea,  and  into  the  bargain,  be  publicly  reproached  for  his  pri- 
vate failings  !  Governor  Winthrop  tells  us  he  belonged  to  Hingham,  and  says  he 
was  whipped  "for  reproaching  the  Lord's  ordinance."  [Vol.  II,  p.  175.]  But  did 
not  they  reproach  infant  sprinkling,  by  taking  such  methods  to  support  it,  much 
more  than  Painter  did  ? 


128  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

of  Baptists  suffering  for  the  above  points  that  we  own ;  but 
not  one  instance  of  the  conviction  of  any  member  of  a  Bap- 
tist church  in  this  country,  in  any  Court,  of  the  errors  or 
evils  which  are  inserted  in  this  law  to  justify  their  making 
of  it,  and  to  render  our  denomination  odious.1  Much  has 
been  said  to  exalt  the  characters  of  those  good  fathers  ;  I 
have  no  desire  of  detracting  from  any  of  their  virtues  ;  but 
the  better  the  men  were,  the  worse  must  be  the  principle 
that  could  ensnare  them  in  such  bad  actions. 

The  contrast  betwixt  their  treatment  of  Mr.  Wheelwright 
and  Mr.  Williams  this  year  deserves  notice.  Upon  a  new 
running  of  the  line,  the  Massachusetts  had  taken  Exeter 
into  their  colony,  which  caused  Mr.  Wheelwright  to  remove 
to  Wells,  from  whence  he  wrote  to  the  Governor  at  Boston 
for  a  reconciliation,  Dec.  7,  1643,  and  said,  "  It  is  the  grief 
of  my  soul  that  I  used  such  vehement  censorious  speeches. 
I  repent  me  that  I  did  so  much  adhere  to  persons  of  corrupt 
judgments,  to  the  countenancing  and  encouraging  of  them 
in  any  of  their  errors,  or  evil  practices,  though  I  intended 
no  such  thing."  The  Court  inclined  to  hear  him  of  which 
the  Governor  sent  him  a  written  account,  and  received  such 
a  reply  as  would  make  one  think  of  Bishop  Burnet's  remark. 
Said  he,  "  There  are  none  of  us  but  what  will  acknowledge 
in  general  terms  that  our  church  is  imperfect,  though  when 
we  come  to  particulars,  we  are  always  in  the  right.'2     Yet 

'There  is  not  one  instance  in  any  government  that  supported  Poedobaptism  by 
force.  But  Mr.  Williams,  when  Governor  of  Providence  colony  in  1G55,  acted  with 
the  Court  in  punishing  a  man  for  opposing  all  government,  who  then  was  called  a 
Baptist,  but  after  turned  to  the  Quakers. 

2Said  letter  to  the  Governor  is  in  these  words  : — 
B.  W.* 

"  I  have  received  your  letters,  wherein  you  signify  to  me,  that  you  have  imparted 
my  letter  to  the  II.  C.f  and  that  it  finds  good  acceptance,  for  which  I  rejoice  with 
all  thankfulness ;  as  also  for  liberty  of  safe  conduct  granted  by  the  Court,  and,  in 
case  I  desire,  letters  for  that  end.  I  should  very  willingly  (upon  Letters  obtained) 
express  by  word  of  mouth,  openly  in  Court,  that  which  I  did  by  writing,  might  I 
without  offence  express  my  true  intent  and  meaning  more  fully  to  this  effect;  that 
notwithstanding  my  failures  (for  which  I  crave  pardon)   yet  I    cannot  with   a  good 

•Bight  Worshipful.— Ed.  fllouorcd  Court.— Ed. 


[1644.]  MR.  WHEELWRIGHT'S  SENTENCE  REVOKED.  129 

without  waiting  for  his  personal  appearance,  they  at  the 
General  Court  in  Boston,  May  29,  1644,  passed  the  follow- 
ing act,  viz. : — 

It  is  ordered  that  Mr.  Wheelwright  (upon  a  particular,  solemn,  and  seri- 
ous acknowledgment  and  confession,  by  letters,  of  his  evil  carriages,  and 
of  the  Court's  justice  upon  him  for  them)  hath  his  banishment  taken  off, 
and  is  received  as  a  member  of  this  Commonwealth.1 

Mr.  Williams  returned  with  the  charter  he  had  procured, 
to  Boston,  the  17th  of  September  following,2  and  brought 
the  ensuing  letter  with  him  : — 

To  the  Right  Worshipful  the  Governor  and  Assistants  and  the  rest  of  our 
worthy  friends  in  the  plantation  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  [in  New  Eng- 
land.]3 

Our  Much  Honored  Friends  : — Taking  notice  some  of  us  of  long 
time  of  Mr.  Roger  Williams's  [Williams  his]  good  affections  and  conscience, 
and  of  his  sufferings  by  our  common  enemy  [enemies]  and  oppressors  of 
God's  people  the  prelates,  as  also  of  his  great  industry  and  travels  [travail]  in 

conscience  condemn  myself  for  such  capital  crimes,  dangerous  revelations  and 
gross  errors,  as  have  been  charged  upon  me.  The  concurrence  of  which,  as  I  take 
it,  makes  up  the  substance  of  all  my  sufferings.  I  do  not  see  but  in  so  mixed  a 
cause,  I  am  bound  to  use,  may  it  be  permitted,  my  just  defence,  so  far  as  I  appre- 
hend myself  to  be  innocent,  and  to  make  my  confession  where  I  am  convinced  of 
any  delinquency,  otherwise  I  shall  seemingly  and  in  appearance  fall  under  guilt 
of  many  heinous  offences,  for  which  my  conscience  doth  acquit  me.  If  I  seem  to 
make  suit  to  the  Court  for  relaxation  to  be  granted  as  an  act  of  mercy  upon  my 
sole  confession,  I  must  offend  my  conscience ;  if  by  an  act  of  justice,  upon  my 
apology  and  lawful  defence,  I  fear  here  I  shall  offend  your  Worships.  I  leave  all 
things  to  your  wise  and  holy  consideration,  hoping  you  will  pardon  my  simplicity 
and  plainness,  which  I  am  forced  upon  by  the  power  of  an  overruling  conscience. 
I  rest  your  Worship's  in  the  Lord, 

J.  Wheelwright." 

Wells,  (I)  I,  1643. 

Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  p.  163.]  Hubbard,  [367.]  Note,  their  way  was  to  begin 
the  year  with  March  25,  so  that  according  to  our  reckoning  this  was  March  1,  1614, 

xAt  the  same  time  they  passed  a  sentence,  that  "  Richard  Waterman,  being  found 
erroneous,  heretical  and  obstinate,  it  was  ordered  that  he  should  be  detained  prison- 
er till  the  Quarter  Court  in  the  seventh  month,  unless  five  of  the  magistrates  find 
cause  to  send  him  away,  which  if  they  do,  it  is  ordered,  he  shall  not  return  within 
this  jurisdiction  upon  pain  of  death." 

Massachusetts  Records. 

2Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  p.  193.] 

3This  letter  has  been  often  quoted  and  considerably  changed.     The  form   here 
given  is  taken  almost  literally  from  Hutchinson.     The  words  added  in  brackets  will 
indicate  its  form  as  given  by  Winthrop.     Vol.  II,  p.  193. — Ed. 
9 


130     HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

his  printed  Indian  labors1  in  your  parts  (the  like  whereof  we  have  not 
seen  extant  from  any  part  of  America)  and  in  which  respecl  it  hath  phased 
both  houses  of  parliament  [freely]  to  grant  unto  him  and  friends  with  him 
a  free  and  absolute  charter  of  civil  government  for  those  parts  of  his 
abode,  and  withal  sorrowfully  resenting  that  amongst  good  men  (our 
friends)  driven  to  the  ends  of  the  world,  exercised  with  the  trials  of  a 
wilderness,  and  who  mutually  give  good  testimony  each  of  the  other  [of  other] 
(as  we  observe  you  do  of  him,  and  he  abundantly  of  you2)  there  should 
be  such  a  distance  ;  we  thought  it  fit  upon  divers  considerations  to  profess 
our  great  desires  of  both  your  utmost  endeavors  of  nearer  closing  and  of 
ready  expressing  those  good  aflfectious  (which  we  perceive  you  bear  each  to 
other)  in  effectual  [in  the  actual]  performance  of  all  friendly  offices.  The 
rather  because  of  those  bad  neighbors  you  are  likely  [like]  to  find  too  near 
you  in  Virginia,  and  the  unfriendly  visits  from  the  west  of  England  and 
Ireland.  That  howsoever  it  may  please  the  Most  High  to  shake  our  founda- 
tions, yet  the  report  of  your  peaceable  and  prosperous  plantations  may  be 
some  refreshings  [refreshing]  to  your  true  and  faithful  friends. 

Cor.  Holland,  Robert  IIahlev, 

John  Blackistow,  John  Gurdon, 

Isaac  Penning  ion,  Northumberland, 

Miles  Corbet,  P.  Wharton, 

Oliver  St.  John,  Thomas  Barrington. 

Gibert  Pickering,  William  Masiiam."3 

Hubbard  says : — 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  the  Governor  and  magistrates  of  the 
Massachusetts  found,  upon  examination  of  their   hearts,   no  reason  to  con- 

JMr.  Williams's  printed  Indian  labors  referred  to,  which  had  considerable  influ- 
ence in  procuring  their  charter,  were  three  years  before  the  famous  Mr.  Elliott 
began  to  preaeli  to  the  Indians  at  Natie,  or  Mr.  Thomas  Mayhew  at  Martha's  Vine- 
yard.    Magnalia,  B.  3,  p.  193.  [Vol.  1,  p.  507.]     Mayhew's  Indian  Converts,  p.  5. 

2Mr.  Williams  eonfirmed  his  profession  of  love  to  them  by  his  practice,  in  con- 
stantly doing  them  all  the  good  in  his  power,  both  in  this  country  and  at  the  British 
court,  where  also  his  great  friend.  Sir  Henry  Vane,  this  year  showed  a  truly  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  forgiveness  towards  Massachusetts;  for  when  upon  a  certain  affair 
"  a  heavy  complaint  was  made  against  the  government,  and  they  were  threatened 
with  the  loss  of  their  privileges.  Sir  Henry  Vane  stood  their  friend,  and  by  his 
great  interest  with  the  Parliament,  appeased  their  resentment,  and  laid  the  storm 
which  was  gathering  and  hung  over  them." 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  ]).  66,  [('7.] 

"Massachusetts  Bistory,  Vol.  I,  pp.  30,  -to,  [42.]  King  Charles  the  First's  party 
at  that  time  had  the  command  of  the  west  of  England,  Ireland  and  Virginia,  and  fear 
of  visits  from  them  is  what  they  refer  to.  That  party  was  defeated  the  next  year 
and  the  king  taken  prisoner. 


[1644.]  WHEELWRIGHT  AND  WILLIAMS  COMPARED.  131 

demn  themselves  for  any  former  proceedings  against  Mr.  Williams  ;  but 
for  any  offices  of  Christian  love,  and  duties  of  humanity,  they  were  very 
willing  to  maintain  a  mutual  correspondence  with  him  ;  but  as  to  his  dan- 
gerous principles  of  separation,  unless  he  can  be  brought  to  lay  them  down, 
they  see  no  reason  why  to  concede  to  him,  or  any  so  persuaded,  free  liberty 
of  ingress  and  egress,  lest  any  of  their  people  should  be  drawn  away  with 
his  erroneous  opinions.1 

The  reader  may  remember  that  Wheelwright  in  his  sen- 
tence of  banishment,  was  charged  with  contempt  and  sedi- 
tion, which  he  never  confessed  ;  and  that  Governor  Winthrop 
declared  his  opinions  to  be  worse  than  Mr.  Williams's  ;2  yet 
now  the  one  is  received  to  favor  and  liberty  again,  while  the 
other  is  denied  it,  though  he  had  done  the  colony  such  great 
and  essential  services  as  the  former  never  did.  How  can  we 
account  for  this  \  The  best  answer  I  can  give  is,  that  Mr. 
Wheelwright  held  to  infant  baptism,  and  to  the  magistrates' 
power  to  govern  in  religious  affairs,  and  now  yielded  to  their 
exercise  of  it;  but  Mr.  Williams  denied  both,  for  which  he 
was  excommunicated  by  the  church,  after  the  Court  had  sent 
him  away.  Wheelwright  was  also  in  such  favor  with  Mr. 
Cotton,  that  he  was  dismissed  from  his  church  in  fellowship, 
after  the  Court  had  banished  him  for  sedition  ;  and  he  now 
appeared  very  complaisant  and  submissive  to  men  in  power. 
But  Williams  was  so  "self-conceited,  turbulent  and  uncharit- 
able, as  to  give  public  advertisements  and  admonitions  to  all 
men,  whether  of  meaner  or  more  public  note  and  place,  of 
the  corruptions  of  religion  which  himself  observed,  both  in 
their  judgments   and  practices ;    of  which  there  needs  no 

'Hubbard,  [348.] 

2The  Court's  sentence  against  him  was  in  these  words  : — "  Whereas  Mr.  Roger 
Williams,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  church  of  Salem,  hath  broached  and  divulged 
divers  new  and  dangerous  opinions,  against  the  authority  of  magistrates,  as  also 
written  [writ]  letters  of  defamation  both  of  the  magistrates  and  churches  here,  and 
that  before  any  conviction,  and  yet  maintaineth  the  same  without  retraction  :  It  is 
therefore  ordered,  that  the  said  Mr.  Williams  shall  depart  out  of  this  jurisdiction 
within  six  weeks  now  next  ensuing,  which  if  he  neglect  to  perform,  it  shall  be  law- 
ful for  the  Governor  and  two  of  the  magistrates  to  send  him  to  some  place  out  of 
this  jurisdiction,  not  to  return  any  more  without  license  from  the  Court." 

Massachusetts  Records,  1635. 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

other  evidence,  than  what  is  obvious  to  the  view  of  every 
indifferent  reader,  in  his  dealing  with  that  famous  and  rev- 
erend divine,  Mr.  John  Cotton,  in  his  book  called  The 
Bloody  Tenet." 

These  words  Mr.  Hubbard  quotes  from  another,  as  the 
received  opinion  of  that  day.  But  who  was  this  reverend 
divine,  and  how  was  he  dealt  with  ]  Was  not  Mr.  Williams 
as  truly  a  minister  of  Christ  as  he  ]  Does  self-conceit  move 
men  to  give  plain  warnings  to  great  men,  which  have  a  ten- 
dency to  expose  self  to  heavy  sufferings  ]  And  does  it  move 
persons  to  do  every  kind  office  they  can  from  year  to  year, 
for  those  who  will  not  hear  reproof,  but  requite  evil  for 
good  ?  This  is  a  different  sort  of  pride  from  what  most  men 
are  acquainted  with.  However,  that  the  reader  may  have  a 
fair  opportunity  of  judging  for  himself,  I  shall  endeavor  to 
plainly  state  the  occasion  and  nature  of  this  controversy 
between  Cotton  and  Williams. 

A  prisoner  in  Newgate  wrote  some  arguments  against 
persecution,  which  were  presented  to  Mr.  Cotton,  and  he 
wrote  an  answer  to  them  in  a  letter  to  one  Mr.  Hall,  of 
Roxbury  ;  who  not  being  satisfied  therewith,  sent  them  to 
Mr.  Williams  at  Providence,  requesting  him  to  write  upon 
the  subject.1      And  as  Mr.  Cotton   closed  his  letter  to  Mr. 

1  "  Mr.  Cotton  says  in  1047,  'Mr.  Williams  sent  me  about  a  dozen  years  ago  (as  I 
remember)  a  letter,  penned  (as  he  wrote)  by  a  prisoner  tn  Newgate,  touebing  per- 
secution for  conscience  sake;  and  entreated  my  judgment  of  it  for  the  satisfaction 
of  his  friend.'  This  •  letter'  was  apart, — the  sixth,  seventh,  eighth  and  ninth  chap- 
ters,— of  a  work  printed  in  1G20,  entitled,  '  A  most  humble  supplication  of  the 
King's  Majesty's  loyal  subjects,  ready  to  testify  all  civil  obedience  by  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  or  otherwise,  and  that  of  conscience  ;  who  are  persecuted,  (only  for  differ- 
ing in  religion)  contrary  to  divine  and  human  testimonies  :  as  followeth.'  It  is 
signed  by  '  your  Majesty's  loyal  subjects  unjustly  called  Anabaptists.'  It  is  reprinted 
by  Crosby,  History  of  the  English  Baptists.  II.  Appendix,  pp.  10— 51,  and  in  Tracts 
on  Liberty  of  Conscience,  &c,  Hansard  Knollys  Society,  pp.  189 — 231.  According 
to  Williams  'the  author  of  these  arguments  bring  committed  by  some  then  in 
power,  close  prisoner  to  Newgate,  for  the  witness  of  some  truths  of  Jesus,  and 
having  not  the  use  of  pen  and  ink,  wrote  these  arguments  in  milk,  in  sheets  of 
paper,  brought  to  him  by  the  woman,  his  keeper,  from  a  friend  in  London,  as  the 
stopples  of  his  milk  bottle.'  Bloody  Tenet,  p.  18.  Dr.  Underbill  conjectures  that 
it  must  have   been  written  by  John  Murton,  or  as  Crosby  calls   him,  Morton,  who 


[1644.]       CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  COTTON.        133 

Hall  with  saying,  "  I  forbear  adding  reasons  to  justify  the 
truth,  because  you  may  find  that  done  to  your  hand,  in  a 
treatise  sent  to  some  of  the  brethren,  late  of  Salem,  who 
doubted  as  you  do."  Mr.  Williams  wrote  to  Mr.  Sharp, 
elder  of  Salem  church,  for  it,  and  obtained  it.1  He  then 
wrote  his  sentiments  upon  the  whole,  under  the  title  of 
"  The  Bloody  Tenet  of  Persecution  for  Conscience  Sake  ;" 
which  I  suppose  he  now  brought  with  him  from  London, 
though  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  it.2  Mr.  Cotton  wrote 
an  answer  to  him,  which  he  called  "  The  Bloody  Tenet 
washed,  and  made  white  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb."  It 
was  printed  in  London  in  16 ±7.  To  this  Mr.  Williams  pub- 
was  associated  with  Helwisse  in  Holland,  and  after  his  return,  in-  England,  and 
against  whom  John  Robinson  directed  one  of  his  controversial  works.  Tracts  on 
Liberty  of  Conscience,  &c.,  pp.  89,  187.  Williams  denies  that  this  treatise  was  sent 
by  him  to  Cotton,  or  that  the  reply  was  private,  as  Cotton  alledged  in  complaint 
against  its  being  printed  in  this  work.  He  says,  "  To  my  knowledge  there  was  no 
such  letter  or  intercourse  passed  between  Master  Cotton  and  the  discusser,"  but 
what  I  have  heard  is  this, — One  Master  Hall,  of  Roxbury,  presented  the  prisoner's 
arguments  against  persecution  to  Master  Cotton,  who  gave  this  present  controverted 
answer;  with  the  which  Master  Hall  not  being  satisfied,  he  sends  them  unto  the  dis- 
cusser, who  never  saw  the  said  Hall,  nor  those  arguments  in  writing :  (though  he 
well  remembers  that  he  saw  them  in  print  some  years  since.)  Bloody  Tenet  yet 
more  Bloody,  p.  4."  S.  L.  Caldwell,  Preface  to  the  Bloudy  Tenent,  Narragansett 
Club.  Vol.  Ill,  pp,  iv.,  v.— Ed. 

Williams's  Reply  to  Cotton,  pp.  290,  291.— B. 

This  treatise  was  entitled  "  A  Model  of  Church  and  Civil  Power."  It  probably  was 
never  printed,  and  its  author  is  unknown.  See  Narragansett  Club,  Vol.  Ill,  Preface, 
pp.  vi. — viii. — Ed. 

2The  exact  title  of  the  first  edition  was  "  The  Bloudy  Tenet  of  Persecution,  or 
the  cause  of  Conscience,  discussed,  in  a  conference  between  Truth  and  Peace  ;  who, 
in  all  tender  Affection,  present  to  the  High  Court  of  Parliament,  (as  the  result  of 
their  Discourse)  these,  (amongst  other  passages)  of  highest  consideration."  In  his 
Bloody  Tenet  yet  more  Bloody,  p.  38,  Williams  says  of  this  Work  : — "  When  these 
discussions  were  prepared  for  public  in  London,  his  [the  author's]  time  was  eaten 
up  upon  attendance  upon  the  service  of  the  parliament  and  city,  for  the  supply  of 
the  poor  of  the  city  with  wood  (during  the  stop  of  coal  at  Newcastle,  and  the  muti- 
nies of  the  poor  for  firing.  God  is  a  most  holy  witness  that  these  meditations  were 
fitted  for  public  view  in  charge  of  rooms  and  corners,  yea,  sometimes  (upon  occa- 
sion of  travel  in  the  country,  concerning  that  business  of  fuel)  in  variety  of  strange 
houses,  sometimes  in  the  fields,  in  the  midst  of  travel ;  where  he  hath  been  forced  to 
gather  and  scatter  his  loose  thoughts  and  papers."  Two  editions  of  the  work  are 
said  to  have  been  published  in  London,  in  16-14.  Backus  is  undoubtedly  right  in 
supposing  that  Roger  Williams  brought  the  book  with  him  upon  his  return  from 
England  with  the  charter  of  "  Providence  Plantations."  See  Narragansett  Club, 
Vol.  Ill,  Preface,  pp.  iii.,  iv.— Ed. 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

lisbcd  a  reply  in  1652,  entitled,  "The  Bloody  Tenet  yet 
more  bloody,  by  Mr.  Cottons  Endeavor  to  wash  it  white."1 
The  last  two  of  these  performances  are  now  before  me,  and 
from  thence  I  shall  give  the  reader  their  own  words  upon 
the  most  material  points  of  their  dispute.2 

First.  Mr.  Cotton's  Memory  failed  him  so  much  as  that 
he  represented  that  what  he  wrote  in  answer  to  the  prison- 
er's arguments,  was  in  a  private  letter  to  Mr.  Williams,  and 
upon  that  said : — 

I  wrote  my  conscience,  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  the  truth  of  God, 
according  to  my  conscience  ;  why  should  he  punish  me  with  open  penance, 
and  expose  me  (as  much  as  in  him  lieth)  before  the  world  to  open  shame, 
as  a  man  of  blood,  for  the  liberty  of  my  conscience?  How  will  it  stand 
with  his  own  principles,  to  plead  for  liberty  of  conscience  and  yet  to  punish 
it?  Besides  let  him  remember,  if  I  did  offend  him  with  such  an  error,  it 
was  but  a  private  offence,  and  the  rule  of  the  gospel  required  he  should 
first  have  convinced  and  admonished  me  privately  of  it,  and  so  have  pro- 
ceeded upon  my  contumacy,  at  length  to  have  told  the  church,  before  he  had 
published  it  to  the  world.     C.,3  p.  2. 

Mr.  Williams  in  his  reply  mentions  Mr.  Cotton's  mistake 
about  the  one  to  whom  he  wrote  the  letter,  and  that  he  sup- 
posed his  answer  to  the  prisoner's  arguments  had  been  as 
public  as  his  profession  and  practice  was  upon  that  tenet, 
and  then  says  : — 

But  grant  it  had  been  a  private  letter,  and  the  discourse  and  the  opinion 
private  ;  yet  why  doth  he  charge  the  discusser  with  breach  of  rule,  in   not 

1  "  The  Bloody  Tenent  yet  more  Bloody,  by  Mr.  Cotton's  endeavor  to  wash  it 
white  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb;  of  whose  precious  Blood,  spilt  in  the  Blood  of  his 
Servants,  and  of  the  Blood  of  millions  spilt  in  former  and  later  wars  for  Conscience 
sake,  that  most  Bloody  Tenent  of  persecution  for  cause  of  Conscience,  upon  a  sec- 
ond trial,  is  found  now  more  apparently  and  more  notoriously  guilty." — Ed. 

•The  following  quotations  have  been  verified  from  the  reprint  of  Williams's  work, 
Narragansctt  Club.  Vol.  Ill,  and  a  copy  of  Cotton's  work  in  the  library  of  the 
American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester.  Many  words  and  phrases  were  found  to 
have  been  omitted.  As  it  was  the  object  of  Backus  simply  to  give  a  brief  abstract 
of  the  arguments  of  the  two  writers,  in  their  own  words,  it  has  not  been  thought 
needful  to  notice  the  omissions  except  in  the  few  instances  in  which  it  is  required  in 
order  that  the  full  sense  of  the  passages  may  appear.  There  are  a  few  unimportant 
Instances  of  verbal  change,  probably  by  error  of  transcription,  which  are  indicated 
in  brackets. — Ei>, 

'Note,  C.  and  W.  in  this  account  stand  respectively  for  Cotton's  and  Williams's 
books  abovesaid;  the  figures  for  the  pages  therein. 


[1644.]      CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  COTTON.         135 

using  orderly  ways  of  admonition,  and  telling  the  church,  when  Master 
Cotton  in  this  book  blames  the  discusser  for  disclaiming  communion  with 
their  church,  and  they  also  (after  he  was  driven  by  banishment  from  civil 
habitation  amongst  them)  had  sent  forth  a  bull  of  excommunication  against 
him  in  his  absence  !     Such  practice  the  Lord  Jesus  and  his  first  apostles  or 

messengers  never  taught I  never  heard  that   disputing,  discoursing 

and  examining  men's  tenets  or  doctrines  by  the  word  of  God,  was,  in 
proper  English,  persecution  for  conscience.  Well  had  it  been  for  New  Eng- 
land, that  no  servant  of  God,  nor  witness  of  Christ,  could  justly  take  up 
complaint  for  other  kinds  of  persecution.     W.,  pp.  4,  5. 

The  main  point  of  all  Mr.  Cotton's  washings  is  a  denial 
of  the  charge  of  persecuting  any  for  cause  of  conscience, 
and  he  says  : — 

I  expressly  profess,  1.  That  no  man  is  to  be  persecuted  at  all,  much  less 
for  conscience  sake.  2.  I  profess  further,  that  none  is  to  be  punished  for 
conscience  sake,  though  erroneous,  unless  his  errors  be  fundamental,  or 
seditiously  and  turbulently  promoted,  and  that  after  due  conviction  of  con- 
science ;  that  it  may  appear,  he  is  not  punished  for  his  conscience,  but  for 

sinning  against  his  conscience If  this  tenet  have  any  appearance   of 

blood  in  it,  it  is  because  it  is  washed  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  sealed 
with  his  blood.  And  then  though  it  may  seem  bloody  to  men  of  corrupt 
minds  and  destitute  of  the  truth  (as  Paul  seemed  to  such  to  be  a  pestilent 
fellow)  yet  to  faithful  and  upright  souls,  such  things  as  are  washed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  are  wont  to  come  forth  white.     C,  p.  3. 

In  reply  to  this,  Mr.  Williams  says  : — 

Is  not  this  the  guise  and  profession  of  all  that  ever  persecuted  or  hunted 
men  for  their  religion  and  couscience  ?  Are  not  all  histories  and  experi- 
ences full  of  the  pathetical  speeches  of  persecutors  to  this  purpose  ?  You 
will  say  you  are  persecuted  for  your  conscience,  you  plead  conscience,  thou 
art  a  heretic,  the  devil  hath  deceived  thee,  thy  conscience  is  deluded,  &c. 
....  Time  hath  and  will  discover  that  such  a  blackamore  cannot  be 
washed  in  the  blood  of  Christ  himself,  without  repentance. 

He  goes  on  to  observe,  that  the  setting  up  of  state  relig- 
ions has  been  the  grand  source  of  persecution  in  every  age. 
W.,  pp.  6,  7.  Against  which  he  brought  our  Lord's  parable 
of  the  tares  of  the  field.     Upon  which  Mr.  Cotton  said : — 

It  is  true,  Christ  expoundeth  the  field  to  be  the  world,  but  he  meant  not 
the  [wide]  world,  but  (by  a  usual  trope)  the  church  scattered  throughout 
the  world.     C,  p.  41. 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Mr.  Williams  says  : — 

It  is  no  wonder  to  find  Master  Cotton  so  entangled,  both  in  his  answers 
and  replies  touching  this  parable  ;  for  men  of  all  sorts  in  former  ages  have 
been  so  entangled  before  him.  To  which  purpose  I  will  relate  a  notable 
passage  recorded  by  that  excellent  witness  of  God,  Master  Fox,  in  his  book 
of  Acts  and  Monuments.  It  is  this:  In  the  story  of  Mr.  George  Wise- 
hart,  in  the  days  of  King  Henry  VIII,  there  preached  at  the  arraignment 
of  said  Wisehart  one  John  Winryme,  sub-prior  of  the  abbey  of  St.  An- 
drews ;  he  discoursed  on  the  parable  of  the  tares  ;  he  interpreted  the  tares 
to  be  heretics  ;  and  yet  contrary  to  this  very  Scripture,  (as  Mr.  Fox  ob- 
serveth,  though  elsewhere  himself  maintains  [maintaining]  it  the  duty  of 
the  civil  magistrate  to  suppress  heretics)  I  say  the  said  Winryme  conelud- 
eth  that  heretics  ought  not  to  be  let  alone  until  the  harvest,  but  to  be  sup- 
pressed by  the  power  of  the  civil  magistrate.  So  that  both  the  popish  prior 
and  the  [that]  truly  Christian  Fox  were  entangled  in  contradictions  to  their 
own  writings  about  this  heavenly  Scripture.     W.,  p.  46. 

To  support  the  notion  of  calling  the  church  the  world, 
Mr.  Cotton  quoted  some  texts  wherein  the  redeemed  are  so 
called.     C,  p.  4S.     In  reply,  Mr.  Williams  says: — 

Grant  that  it  hath  pleased  the  Lord  in  his  infinite  wisdom  to  cause  the 
term  world  to  be  used  in  various  significations  ;  yet  let  any  instance  be 
given  of  any  Scripture,  wherein  the  Lord  opposing  the  church  and  world, 
wheat  and  tares,  doth  not  distinguish  between  the  church  redeemed  out  of 
the  world,  and  the  world  itself,  which  is  said  to  lie  in  wickedness,  and  to 
be  such  as  for  which  Jesus  would  not  pray.     John  xvii.     W.,  p.  56. 

He  further  argued  that  sowing  of  the  seed  in  four  sorts 
of  ground  by  Christ's  messengers,  he  called  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  which  four  sorts  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  of  the 
church.  Mr.  Cotton  answers: — 1.  That  Christ  preached 
himself  to  those  four  sorts  of  hearers,  yet  he  was  the  min- 
ister of  circumcision,  and  seldom  preached  to  any  but  mem- 
bers of  the  church  of  Israel.     C,  p.  44.     Reply: — 

When  they  grew  incurable,  and  received  not  the  admonitions  of  the  Lord, 
by  the  Lord  Jesus  and  his  servauts  preaching  unto  them,  the  Lord  cast 
them  out  of  his  sight,  destroyed  that  national  church,  and  established  the 
Christian  church.     W.,  p.  57. 

But  Cotton  says  : — 


1.1644.]      CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  COTTON.        137 

It  is  an  error  to  say,  the  church  consisteth  of  no  more  sorts  of  hearers 
but  one,  the  honest  and  good  ground  ;  for  if  the  children  of  church  mem- 
bers be  in  the  church,  and  of  the  church,  till  they  give  occasion  of  rejec- 
tion, then  they  growing  up  to  years,  become  some  of  them  like  the  high- 
way side,  others  like  the  stony,  others  like  the  thorny,  as  well  as  others 
like  the  honest  and  good  ground.     C,  p.  44. 

Mr.  Williams  replies  : — 

Admit  the  Christian  church  were  constituted  of  the  natural  seed  and  off- 
spring, (which  yet  Mr.  Cotton  knows  will  never  be  granted  to  him,  and  I 
believe  will  never  be  proved  by  him,)  yet  he  knows,  that  upon  the  discov- 
ery of  any  such  portion  of  ground  in  the  church,  the  church  is  bound  to 
admonish,  and  upon  impenitency  after  admonition,  to  cast  them  into  the 
world,  the  proper  place  of  such  kinds  of  hearers  and  professors.  W.,  p. 
57,  58. 

Mr.  Cotton  adds  : — 

Is  it  not  a  main  branch  of  their  covenant  with  God,  that  as  God  giveth 
himself  to  be  a  God  to  them,  and  to  their  seed,  so  they  should  give  up  them- 
selves and  their  seed  to  be  his  people?  Besides  hath  not  God  given  pastors 
and  teachers,  as  well  for  the  gathering  together  of  the  saints,  as  for  the  edi- 
fication of  the  body  of  Christ?  Aod  hath  he  not  given  the  church,  and 
the  gospel  preached  in  the  church,  to  lie  like  leaven  in  three  pecks  of  meal 
till  all  be  leavened?     C,  p.  44. 

Mr.  Williams  says: — 

I  answer,  the  proper  work  of  pastors  and  teachers  is  to  feed  the  sheep  in 
the  flock,  and  not  the  herds  of  wild  beasts  in  the  world.  And  although  it 
is  the  duty  of  parents  to  briug  up  their  children  in  the  nurture  and  fear  of 
the  Lord  ;  yet  what  if  those  children  refuse  to  frequent  the  assemblies  of 
the  church,  and  what  if  those  three  sorts  of  [bad]  ground  or  hearers  wdll 
not  come  within  the  bounds  of  the  pastors'  and  teachers'  feeding?  Hath 
not  the  Lord  Jesus  appointed  other  officers  in  Eph.  iv.  for  the  gathering  of 
the  saints,  that  is,  sending  out  of  the  church  of  Christ  apostles  or  messen- 
gers, to  preach  Christ  to  the  three  sorts  of  bad  ground,  to  labor  to  turn 
them  into  good  ground  ?  But  alas  !  to  salve  up  this,  the  civil  sword  is 
commonly  run  for,  to  force  all  sorts  of  ground  to  come  to  church,  instead 
of  sending  forth  the  heavenly  sowers  according  to  the  ordinance  of  Christ. 
W.,  p.  58. 

Another  argument  Mr.  Cotton  draws  from  the  servants 
wondering  to   see  the  tares,   which  would  not  have  been 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

strange  in  the  highway.     C,  p.  45.     In  reply  to  which  Mr. 
Williams  says  : — 

Let  the  highway,  stony  and  thorny  ground,  be  considered  in  their  sever- 
al qualities  of  profaueness,  stoutness,  stoniness  aud  worldliness,  and  all 
the  soua  of  men  throughout  the  world  naturally  are  such  ;  and  it  is  no  won- 
der, nor  would  the  servants  of  Christ  be  so  troubled,  as  to  desire  their 
plucking  up  out  of  the  world.  But  again  consider  all  these  sorts  of  men 
as  professing  the  name  and  anointing  of  Christ  Jesus,  in  a  false,  counter- 
feit antichrist  ian  way,  and  then  it  may  well  be  wondered  whence  such 
monstrous  Christians  or  anointed  ones  arose  ;  and  God's  people  may  easi- 
ly be  tempted  rather  to  desire  their  rooting  out  of  the  world,  than  the  root- 
ing out  of  any  such  sorts  of  ground  or  men,  professing  auy  other  religion, 
Jewish,  Mahometan  or  Pagan.  A  traitor  is  worse  than  a  professed  fox. 
W.,  pp.  58,  59. 

Again,  while  Mr.  Cotton  pleaded  for  the  exertions  of  the 
civil  power  against  heretics  and  antichristians,  he  says  : — 

No  ordinance  or  law  of  God,  nor  just  law  of  man,  commaudeth  the 
rooting  out  of  hypocrites,  either  by  civil  or  church  censure,  though  the 
church  be  bound  to  endeavor  as  much  as  in  them  lieth  to  heal  their  hypo- 
crisy.    C,  p.  47. 

To  this  Mr.  Williams  answers  : — 

Hypocrisy  discovered  in  the  fruit  of  it,  is  not  to  be  let  alone  in  the 
church  or  state  ;  for  neither  the  church  of  Christ  nor  civil  state  can  long 
continue  safe,  if  hypocrites  or  traitors  (under  what  preteuce  soever)  be 
permitted  to  break  forth  in  them,  without  due  punishment  and  rooting  out ; 
this  hypocrisy  being  especially  the  great  sin  against  which  Christ  so  fre- 
quently and  so  vehemently  inveighed,  and  against  which  he  denounced  the 
sorest  plagues  and  judgments.      W.,  p.  62. 

He  then  proceeded  to  plead,  that  the  civil  state  should 
punish  only  civil  offences.  Upon  which  Mr.  Cotton  asks  : — 

What  if  their  worship  and  consciences  incite  them  to  civil  offences?  C, 
p.  50. 

Mr.  Williams  says: — 

I  answer,  the  conscience  of  the  civil  magistrate  must  incite  him  to  civil 
punishment ;  as  a  Lord  Mayor  of  Londou  once  answered  that  he  was  born 
to  be  a  judge,  to  a  thief  that  pleaded  he  was  born  to  be  a  thief.  If  the 
conscience  of  the  worshippers  of  the  beast  incite  them  to  prejudice  prince 


[1644,]       CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  COTTON.        139 

or  state,  although  these  consciences  be  not  as  the  conscience  of  the  thief, 
commonly  convinced  of  the  evil  of  his  fact,  but  persuaded  of  the  lawful- 
ness of  their  actions  ;  yet  so  far  as  the  civil  state  is  endamaged  or  endan- 
gered, I  say  the  sword  of  God  in  the  hand  of  civil  authority  is  strong 
enough  to  defend  itself,  either  by  imprisoning  or  disarming,  or  other  whole- 
some means,  while  yet  their  consciences  ought  to  be  permitted  in  what  is 
merely  point  of  worship,  as  prayer  and  other  services  and  administrations. 
.Against  any  civil  mischief  the  civil  state  is  strongly  guarded.  Against 
the  spiritual  mischief,  the  church  or  city  of  Christ  is  guarded  with  heavenly 
armories,  wherein  there  hang  a  thousand  bucklers,  Cant.  iv.  4,  and  most 
mighty  weapons.     2  Cor.  x.  W.,  pp.  66,  67. 

But  as  he  still  pleaded  that  the  civil  sword  was  never  ap- 
pointed by  Christ  for  an  antidote  or  remedy  in  spiritual  evils 
and  dangers,  Mr.  Cotton  denies  it,  and  says  : — 

It  is  evident  the  civil  sword  was  appointed  for  remedy  in  this  case  ;  Deut. 
xiii.1  and  appointed  it  was  by  that  Angel  of  God's  presence,  whom  God 
promised  to  send  with  his  people.  Exod.  xxxiii.,  2,  3.  And  that  Angel 
was  Christ,  whom  they  tempted  in  the  wilderness.  1  Cor.  x.  9.  Therefore 
it  cannot  truly  be  said,  that  the  Lord  Jesus  never  appointed  the  civil  sword 
for  a  remedy  in  such  a  case  :  For  he  did  expressly  appoint  it  in  the  Old 
Testament ;  nor  did  he  ever  abrogate  it  in  the  New.  The  reason  of  the 
law  (which  is  the  life  of  the  law)  is  of  eternal  force  and  equity  in  all  ages. 
"  Thou  shalt  surely  kill  him  because  he  hath  sought  to  thrust  thee  away 
from  the  Lord,  thy  God."  This  reason  is  moral,  that  is,  of  universal  and 
perpetual  equity  to  put  to  death  any  apostate,  seducing  idolator,  or  heretic.2 
C,  pp.  66^  67. 

In  reply  Mr.  Williams  says  : — 

How  grievous  is  this  language  of  Master  Cotton  !  Moses  in  the  Old 
Testament  was  Christ's  servant,  yet  being  but  a  servant,  dispensed  his 
power  by  carnal  rites  and  ceremonies,  laws,  rewards  and  punishments,  in 
that  holy  nation,  and  that  one  land  of  Canaan.  But  when  Jesus  the  Son 
and  Lord  himself  was  come,  to  bring  the  truth,  life  and  substance,  of  all 
those  shadows  ;  to  break  down  the  partition-wall  between  Jew  and  Gen- 
tile, and  establish  the  Christian  worship  and  kingdom  in  all  nations  of  the 

^his  incident  is  older  than  any  "Lord  Mayor  of  London,"  and  has  suffered  trans- 
formations which  have  little  improved  it.   Z'/jUCOV  SoifXoV  zTtl    XXOTCTJ  ijUOUTTCYOD. 

Too  ok  £{7t6vtoz,  E'lfiapro  fiot  xXiipat.  Kac  dapr^ac,  &<p/].  "  Zeno  was 
scourging  a  slave  for  theft.  Upon  his  saying  '  It  was  fated  that  I  should  steal,'  'And 
that  you  should  be  skinned,'  said  Zeno.    Diogenes  Laertius. — Ed. 

2Does  not  this  and  such  like  sentences  make  the  tenet  to  appear  yet  more  bloody. 


140  HISTORY  OF  THE    IJAPTISTS    IX    NEW   ENGLAND. 

world,  Master  Cotton  will  never  prove,  from  any  of  the  books  and  institu- 
tions of  the  New  Testament,  that  unto  those  spiritual  remedies  appointed  by 
Christ  against  spiritual  maladies,  he  added  the  help  of  the  carnal  sword. 
If  it  appear,  as  evidently  it  doth,  that  Jesus,  the  antitype  of  the 
kings  of  Israel,  wears  his  sword  in  his  mouth,  being  a  sharp  and  two- 
edged  sword,  then  the  auswer  is  as  clear  as  the  sun,  that  scatters  the  clouds 
and  darkness  of  the  night.  Besides,  Master  Cotton  need  not  fly  to  the 
pope's  argument  for  children  baptism,  to  wit,  to  say  Christ  never  abrogated 
Deut.  xiii.  therefore,  &c,  for  Mr.  Cotton  knows  the  profession  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  John  xviii.  that  his  kingdom  was  not  earthly,  and  therefore  his 
sword  cannot  be  earthly.  Mr.  Cotton  knows  that  Jesus  commanded  a 
sword  to  be  put  up,  when  it  was  drawn  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  and  added 
a  dreadful  threatening,  that  all  that  take  the  sword  (that  is  the  carnal 
sword  in  his  cause)  shall  perish  by  it.     W.,  pp.  95,  96. 

The  reader  may  remember,  that  Mr.  Williams  was  often 
blamed  for  holding  that  the  civil  magistrate's  work  was  con- 
fined to  the  precepts  of  the  second  table.  His  main  argu- 
ment therefor  was,  that  Rom.  xiii.  speaks  the  most  fully  of 
that  subject  of  any  place  in  the  New  Testament,  and  there 
the  discourse  is  confined  to  the  duties  included  in  love  to 
our  neighbor.  Mr.  Cotton  grants  his  premises,  but  not  his 
conclusion,  and  says  : — 

Though  subjection  to  magistrates,  and  love  to  all  men,  be  duties  which 
concern  the  second  table,  yet  the  inference  will  not  follow,  that  therefore 
magistrates  have  nothing  to  do  to  punish  any  violatiou,  no,  not  the  weight- 
iest duties  of  the  first  table.  It  is  a  clear  case,  among  the  duties  of  the 
second  table  people  may  be  exhorted  to  honor  their  ministers,  and  children 
may  be  exhorted  to  honor  their  parents  ;  but  will  it  hence  follow,  that 
therefore  ministers  have  nothiog  to  do  with  matters  of  religion  in  the 
church,  or  parents  in  the  family?"     C,  p.  96. 

Mr.  Williams  answers  : — 

If  people  are  bound  to  yield  obedience  to  civil  things  to  civil  oilicers  of 
the  state,  Christians  are  much  more  bound  to  yield  obedience  to  the  spirit- 
ual officers  of  Christ's  kingdom  ;  but  how  weak  is  this  argument  to  prove, 
that  therefore  civil  officers  of  the  state  are  constituted  rulers,  preservers 
and  reformers  of  the  Christian  and  spiritual  state,  which  differs  as  much 
from  the  civil,  as  the  heavens  are  out  of  the  reach  of  the  [this]  earthly 
globe?     W.,  pp.  147,  148. 


[1644.]      CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  COTTON.         141 

Mr.  Cotton  often  recurs,  through  his  book,  to  his  notion  of 
not  punishing  men  for  any  matter  of  conscience,  but  only 
for  sinning  against  their  own  consciences  after  conviction. 
One  great  article  of  Mr.  Williams's  sentence  of  banishment 
was,  his  writing  letters  against  the  rulers  and  churches 
before  any  conviction.  And  Mr.  Cotton  says  of  ministers 
and  churches,  "  None  of  us  had  any  further  influence,  than 
by  private  and  public  conviction  of  himself,  and  of  the 
demerit  of  his  way."  C,  2d  part,  p.  12.  And  when  one  of  the 
magistrates  was  going  to  the  Court  that  banished  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, and  asked  Mr. Cotton  what  he  thought  of  it  ?  his  answer 
was,  "  I  pity  the  man,  and  have  interceded  for  him,  whilst 
there  was  any  hope  of  doing  good ;  but  now  he  having  re- 
fused to  hear  both  his  own  church  and  us,  and  having  reject- 
ed us  all,  as  no  churches  of  Christ,  before  any  conviction, 
we  have  now  no  more  to  say  in  his  behalf,  nor  hope  to  pre- 
vail for  him."  C,  Part  2,  p.*  39.1 

This  notion  of  not  punishing  any  in  matters  of  religion, 
till  they  had  first  convinced  their  consciences,  runs  through 
Mr.  Cotton's  whole  book,  as  chose  who  have  it  may  see  in 
the  quotations  below  ;2  and  he  tries  to  support  it  by  Tit.  iii. 

xThe  charge  in  Roger  Williams's  sentence,  "  Whereas  Mr.  Roger  Williams,  one 
of  the  elders  of  the  church  at  Salem,  hath  broached  and  divulged  divers,  new  and 
dangerous  opinions  against  the  authority  of  magistrates,  as  also  writ  letters  of  def- 
amation both  of  the  magistrates  and  churches  here,  and  that  before  any  conviction, 
&c,"  (see  p.  131,)  seems  to  mean  that  he  had  given  public  expression  by  word  and 
letter  to  his  opinions  against  the  magistrates  and  churches,  without  affording  them 
the  opportunity  of  discoursing  with  him  and  convicting  him  of  his  errors.  Cotton, 
as  above  represented,  holds  that  no  one  should  be  punished  for  religious  error, 
except  he  advance  or  adhere  to  the  error  after  conviction,  that  is,  after  the  error  has 
been  plainly  set  before  him  so  that,  in  candor,  he  must  admit  it,  and  to  cling  to  it 
longer  will  be  a  sin  of  obstinacy  rather  than  of  ignorance.  There  does  not  seem  to 
be  quite  the  inconsistency  of  Williams's  sentence  with  Cotton's  words,  or  of  Cotton's 
words  with  each  other  in  different  parts  of  his  book,  that  Backus  represents,  though 
it  is  not  strange  that  he  mistakes  the  ambiguous  expressions.  Williams  is  charged 
with  expressing  his  opinions  before  any  conviction,  but  he  was  not  sentenced  till 
after  conviction,  in  their  sense  of  the  word,  that  is,  till  after  the  magistrates  and 
ministers  had  disputed  with  him,  and,  in  their  view,  "  clearly  confuted"  him,  and 
yet  he  persisted  in  adhering  to  his  views  and  making  them  public.  See  pp.  51,  54. 
—Ed. 

8Pp.  3,  26,  189 ;  Second  Part,  pp.  12,  17,  32,  37,  39. 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

11,  which  refers  entirely  to  ecclesiastical,  and  not  to  civil 
government ;  and  there  not  to  every  error,  but  only  to  gross 
heresy,  which  was  to  be  judged  of  by  those  who  were  well 
acquainted  with  spiritual  things.     But  said  Mr.  Williams: — 

Every  lawful  magistrate,  whether  succeeding  or  elected,  is  not  only  the 
minister  of  God,  but  the  minister  or  servant  of  the  people  also  (what  peo- 
ple or  nation  soever  they  be,  all  the  world  over)  and  that  minister  or  mag- 
istrate goes  beyond  his  commission,  who  intermeddles  with  that  which  can- 
not be  given  him  in  commission  from  the  people,  unless  Master  Cotton  can 
prove  that  all  the  people  and  inhabitants  of  all  the  nations  in  the  world  have 
spiritual  power,  Christ's  power,  naturally,  fundamentally  and  originally  re- 
siding in  them,  to  rule  Christ's  spouse,  the  church,  and  to  give  spiritual  power 
to  their  officers  to  exercise  their  spiritual  laws  and  commands  ;T  otherwise 
it  is  but  profaning  the  holy  name  of  the  Most  High.  It  is  but  flattering  of 
magistrates,  it  is  but  the  accursed  trusting  to  an  arm  of  flesh,  to  persuade 
rulers  of  the  earth  that  they  are  kings  of  the  Israel  or  church  of  God,  who 
were  in  their  institutions  and  government  immediately  from  God,  the  ru- 
lers of  his  holy  church  and  people.  W.,  p.  96.  Not  a  few  of  his  oppo- 
sites  will  say,  and  that  aloud,  that  he  and  they  were  or  might  have  been 
convinced,  whatever  he  or  they  themselves  thought.  The  truth  is,  the  car- 
nal sword  is  commonly  the  judge  of  the  conviction  or  obstinacy  of  all  sup- 
posed heretics.2  Hence  the  faithful  witnesses  of  Christ,  Cranmer,  Ridley, 
Latimer,  had  not  a  word  to  say  in  the  disputations  at  Oxford.     Hence  the 

lrrhose  who  are  called  lords  spiritual  in  England  have  no  power,  since  the  pope 
excommunicated  them,  but  what  they  derive  from  the  civil  state. 

2Dr.  Owen  wrote  a  piece  upon  toleration  soon  after  Mr.  Cotton's  book  was  pub- 
lished in  London,  and  upon  this  point  he  says,  "  He  that  holds  the  truth  may  be  con- 
futed, but  a  man  cannot  be  convinced  but  by  the  truth.  That  a  man  should  be  said 
to  be  convinced  of  a  truth,  and  yet  that  truth  not  shine  in  upon  his  understanding, 
to  the  expelling  of  the  contrary  error,  to  me  is  strange.  To  be  convinced  is  to  be 
overpowered  by  the  evidence  of  that,  which  before  a  man  knew  not.  I  once  knew 
a  scholar  invited  to  a  dispute  with  another  man,  about  something  in  controversy  in 
religion;  in  his  own,  and  in  the  judgment  of  all  the  bystanders,  the  opposing  per- 
son was  utterly  confuted.  And  yet  the  scholar,  within  a  few  months,  was  taught  of 
God,  and  clearly  convinced,  that  it  was  an  error  which  he  had  maintained,  and  the 
truth  which  he  opposed  ;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  did  he  cease  to  wonder,  that 
the  other  person  was  not  convinced  by  his  strong  arguments,  as  before  he  had 
thought  To  Bay  B  man  is  convinced,  when  cither  for  want  of  skill  and  ability,  or 
the  like,  he  cannot  maintain  his  opinion  against  all  men,  is  a  mere  conceit.  That 
they  are  obstinate  and  pertinacious  is  a  cheap  snpposal.  taken  up  without  the  price  of 
a  proof  As  the  conviction  is  imposed,  not  owned,  so  is  this  obstinacy;  if  we  may 
be  judges  of  other  men's  obstinacy,  all  will  be  plain;  but  if  ever  they  get  upper* 
most,  they  will  be  judges  of  ours."  Collection  of  Owen's  Sermons  and  Tracts, 
1721,  p.  312. 


[1644.]      CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  COTTON.        143 

nonconformists  were  cried  out  as  obstinate  men,  abundantly  convinced  by 
the  writings  of  Whitgift  and  others  ;  and  so  in  the  conference  before  King 
James  at  Hampton  Court.     W.,  p.  192. 

Mr.  Williams  in  discussing  his  opponent's  arguments  ob- 
served, that  his  opponent  had  taken  many  charges  and  ex- 
hortations which  Christ  gave  to  his  ministers,  and  directed 
them  to  the  civil  magistrate.  But  Mr.  Cotton  says,  "  The 
falsehood  of  the  discussor  in  this  charge  is  palpable  and  no- 
torious." C,  p.  88.  Yet  fifty  pages  forward  in  the  same 
discourse  Mr.  Cotton  says  : — 

The  good  that  is  brought  to  princes  and  subjects  by  the  due  punishment 
of  apostate  seducers,  idolaters  and  blasphemers,  is  manifold.  First,  it 
putteth  away  evil  from  the  people,  and  cutteth  off  a  gangrene,  which 
would  spread  to  further  ungodliness.  Deut.  xiii.  5  ;  2  Tim.  ii.  16,  17,  18. 
Secondly,  it  driveth  away  wolves  from  worrying  and  scattering  the  sheep 
of  Christ.  False  teachers  be  wolves.  Matt.  vii.  15  ;  Act.  xx.  29.  C, 
p.  137,  138. 

This  is  a  clear  proof  that  great  men  cannot  go  straight  in 
a  crooked  path. 

Mr.  Williams  had  argued  that  Mr.  Cotton's  doctrine  tended 
to  the  setting  up  of  a  Spanish  inquisition  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  to  frustrate  the  great  design  of  our  Saviour's 
coming.  He  denies  it,  and  accuses  Mr.  Williams  of  rather 
promoting  the  principal  end  of  the  Spanish  inquisition,  "by 
proclaiming  impunity  to  all  their  whorish  and  wolvish  emis- 
saries. Nor  is  it,"  says  he,  "  a  frustrating  of  the  sweet  end 
of  Christ's  coming,  which  was  to  save  souls,  but  rather  a 
direct  advancing  of  it,  to  destroy,  if  need  be,  the  bodies  of 
those  wolves,  who  seek  to  destroy  the  souls  of  those  for 
whom  Christ  died.     C,  p.  93. 

Mr.  Williams  replies  : — 

I  cannot  without  great  horror  observe,  what  is  this  but  to  give  a  woful 
occasion,  at  least  to  all  civil  powers  in  the  world,  to  persecute  Christ  in 
his  poor  saints  and  servants  ?  Yea,  if  Master  Cotton  and  his  friends  of  his 
conscience  should  be  cast  by  God's  providence  ( whose  wheels  turn  about  in 
the  depth  of  his  councils  wonderfully)  I  say  should  they  be  cast  under  the 
reach    of    opposite  swords,  will  they  not  produce   Master   Cotton's    own 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

bloody  tenet  and  doctrine  to  warrant  them  (according  to  their  consciences) 
to  deal  with  him  a3  a  wolf,  an  idolater,  a  heretic,  and  as  dangerous  an 
emissary  and  seducer  as  any  whom  Master  Cotton  so  accuseth  [account- 
ed] ?  Master  Cotton  hath  no  reason  to  charge  the  discusser  with  indul- 
gence or  partiality  towards  Romish  and  wolvish  emissaries  ;  his  judgment 
and  practice  is  known  so  far  different,  that  for  departing  too  far  from  them 
(as  is  pretended)  he  suffers  the  brands  and  bears  the  marks  of  one  of  Christ's 
poor  persecuted  heretics  to  this  day.1  All  that  he  pleaded  for,  is  an  impartial 
liberty  to  their  consciences  in  worshipping  God,  as  well  as  [to  the]  con- 
sciences and  worships  of  other  their  fellow-subjects."       W.,  pp.  141,  142. 

This  book  Mr.  Williams  dedicated  to  the   rulers  of  New 
England,  wherein,  after  several  useful  remarks,  he  says  : — 

There  is  one  commodity  for  the  sake  of  which  most  of  God's  children  in 
New  England  have  run  mighty  hazards  ;  a  commodity  marvellously  scarce 
in  former  times,  in  our  native  country.  It  is  the  liberty  of  searching  after 
God's  most  holy  mind  and  pleasure.  Of  this  most  precious  and  invaluable 
jewel  if  you  suffer  Satan  to  bereave  you,  and  that  it  shall  be  a  crime  humbly 
and  peaceably  to  question  even  laws  and  statutes,  or  whatever  is  even  pub- 
licly taught  and  delivered,  you  will  find  yourselves  after  all  your  long  run 
(like  that  little  Frenchman  who  killed  the  Duke  of  Guise,  and  was  taken 
next  morning  near  the  place  from  whence  he  had  fled  upon  a  swift  horse 
all  night)  ;  I  say  you  will  most  certainly  find  yourselves  but  where  you  were, 
enslaved  and  captivated  in  the  chains  of  those  popish  darknesses,  viz. : 
Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  devotion,  and,  We  must  believe  as  the  church 
believes,  &c.  O  remember  that  your  gifts  are  rare,  your  professions  of 
religion  rare,  your  persecutions  and  hidings  from  the  storms  abroad  rare 
and  wonderful  !2  So  in  proportion  your  transgressions  and  public  sins  can- 
not but  be  of  a  rare  and  extraordinary  guilt.  Amongst  the  crying  sins  of  our 
own  or  other  sinful  nations,  those  two  are  ever  among  tie  loudest,  viz.  : 
Invented  devotions  to  the  God  of  heaven  ;  2dly,  Violence  and  oppression 
on  the  sons  of  men,  especially  of  his  sons,  for  dissenting.  That  the  im- 
partial and  dreadful  hand  of  the  most  holy  and  jealous  God,  a  cousumiug 
fire,  tear  and  burn  not  up  at  last  the  roots  of  these  plantations,  but  gra- 
ciously discerning  [discovering]  the  plants  which  are  not  his,  he  may  gra- 
ciously sanctify  and  cause  to  flourish  what  his  right  hand  will  own,  this  is 
the  humble  and  iinleigued  desire  and  cry  at  the  throne  of  grace,  of  you  so 
long  despised  outcast ;  ROGER  Williams."     W.,  dedication,  pp.  2G,  27. 

'One  of  the  two  points  upon  which  the  Massachusetts  hcgan  their  contention  with 
him  was  his  refusing  to  countenance  the  fellowship  they  had  with  popish  corruptions 
in  the  church  of  England. 

'Persecution  drove  them  into  this  hind,  where  they  were  hid  from  the  hloody  storm* 
of  intestine  wars  in  England, 


[1645.]  LAW  AGAINST  ANABAPTISM.  145 

Thus  I  have  laid  before,  the  reader  some  of  the  most 
material  points  of  that  controversy  in  their  own  words,  that 
he  may  see  what  those  principles  were  which  New  England 
writers  have  often  reproached,  under  the  name  of  rigid 
separation  and  anabaptism ;  and  also  how  the  ruling  party 
with  all  their  boast  of  orthodoxy,  could  confound  Jewish 
types  with  Christ's  institutions,  in  order  to  keep  up  paedo- 
baptism,  and  the  use  of  secular  force  in  religious  affairs;  and 
could  separate  from  the  common  rights  of  humanity,  good 
Christians,  and  some  of  their  own  best  friends,  only  for  tes- 
tifying against  such  confusion. 

Mr.  Hubbard  says  : — 

At  a  Geueral  Court,  March,1  1645,  two  petitioners  were  preferred,  one 
for  suspending  (if  not  abolishing)  a  law  made  against  Anabaptists  the  for- 
mer year ;  the  other  was  for  easing  a  law  of  like  nature  made  in  Mrs. 
Hutchinson's  time,  forbidding  the  entertaining  of  any  strangers,  without 
license  of  two  magistrates  :  which  was   not  easily  obtained   in  those  days. 

....  Some  at  this  time  were  much  afraid  of  the  increase  of  anabaptism. 

....  This  was  the  reason  why  the  greater  part  prevailed  for  the  strict 
observation  of  the  aforesaid  [foresaid]  laws,  although  peradventure  [on 
some  accounts]  a  little  moderation  as  to   some  cases  might  have  done  very 

well,  if  not  [much]   better Many  books  coming  out  of  England  in 

the  year  1645,  some  in  defence  of  anabaptism  and  other  errors,  and  for 
liberty  of  conscience,  as  a  shelter  for  a  general  toleration  of  all  opinions, 
&c,  others  in  maintenance  of  Presbyterian  [Presbyterial]  government 
(agreed  upon  by  the  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster)  against  the  Con- 
gressional way  which  was  practiced  in  New  England  ;  the  ministers  of  the 
churches  through  all  the  United  Colouies  agreed  upon  a  meeting  at  Cam- 
bridge, where  they  conferred  their  counsels,  and  examined  the  writings 
which  some  of  them  had  prepared,  in  answer  to  the  said  books  ;  which 
being  agreed  upon  and  perfected,  were  sent  over  into  England  to  be  printed, 

1Hubbard  evidently  mistook  this  date.  In  the  Massachusetts  Records  it  is  Octo- 
ber 18.  The  enactment  is  as  follows  : — "  Upon  a  petition  of  divers  persons  for  con- 
sideration of  the  law  about  new  comers  not  staying  above  three  weeks  without 
license ;  and  the  law  against  Anabaptists,  the  Court  hath  voted  that  the  laws  men- 
tioned should  not  be  altered  at  all  nor  explained."  The  attempt  to  secure  the  repeal 
of  the  latter  law  seems  to  have  continued.  Under  date  of  May  6,  1646,  is  the 
record  : — "  The  petition  of  divers  of  Dorchester,  Roxbury,  &c,  to  the  number  of 
seventy-eight,  for  the  continuance  of  such  orders  without  abrogation  or  weakening 
as  are  in  force  against  Anabaptists  and  other  erroneous  persons,  whereby  to  hinder 
the  spreading  or  divulging  of  their  errors,  is  granted.— Ed. 
10 


146  HISTORY  OF   THE    BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

viz.  :  Mr.  Hooker's  Survey,  in  answer  to  Mr.  Rutherford  ;  Mr.  Mather, 
Mr.  Allen  and  Mr.  Shepard,  [Mr.  Mather's,  Mr.  Allen's,  and  Mr.  Shep- 
ard's  discourses]  about  the  same  subject,  &C.1 

Our  friends  in  London,  hearing  of  the  law  made  at  Boston  last  year  to 
banish  Baptists,  and  the  learned  Mr.  John  Tombes  having  written  an 
examination  of  Mr.  Stephen  Marshall's- sermon  upon  iufaut  baptism,  dedi- 
cated to  the  Westminster  Assembly,  Mr.  Tombes  was'moved  to  send  a  copy 
of  his  examination  to  the  ministers  of  New  England,  and  wrote  an  epistle 
with  it  to  them,  dated  from  the  Temple  in  London,  May  25,  1G45  ;  hoping 
thereby  to  put  them  upon  a  more  exact  study  of  that  controversy,  and  to 
allay  their  vehemeucy  against  the  Baptists.2     But  the  Westminster  Assem- 

•Hubbard,  [413—415.] 

'Crosby's  history,  Vol.  I,  pp.  121,  122.— B. 

John  Tombes  was  born  at  Bewdly,  Worcestershire,  in  1603.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen he  was  admitted  at  Magdalen  Hall,  Oxford,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  was 
made  Catechetical  Lecturer  there.  Six  years  later  he  entered  the  ministry,  and  was 
settled  at  Lemster  and  afterwards  at  Bristol.  Driven  from  these  places  successive- 
ly by  the  civil  war,  in  1G43  he  went  to  London.  For  several  years  he  had  ques- 
tioned the  scriptural  authority  of  infant  baptism  and  held  that  there  was  only  one 
passage,  I  Cor.  vii,  14,  on  which  it  could  be  defended,  lie  had  recently  been  led  to 
yield  this  passage  also,  as  affording  it  no  support.  Upon  coming  to  London  where 
he  had  greater  advantages  for  investigation,  he  determined  to  examine  the  subject 
in  the  light  of  church  history,  and  as  the  result  of  the  examination,  he  was  as  fully 
convinced  that  infant  baptism  was  without  support  from  antiquity  as  from  Scripture. 
At  a  meeting  of  ministers  in  London,  he  proposed  the  question,  "  What  Scripture 
is  there  for  infant  baptism  ?"  and  avowed  his  own  renunciation  of  the  rite.  The 
Westminster  Assembly  was  then  in  session,  with  the  declared  object  of  reforming 
religion  in  England  and  Scotland,  and  had  appointed  a  committee  on  infant  baptism. 
Mr.  Tombes  drew  up  in  Latin  his  arguments  against  it,  and  sent  them  to  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee,  asking  that  they  would  answer  his  objections  or  reform  the 
practice  of  the  churches  on  the  point  in  question.  After  a  delay  of  months,  he 
learned  that  they  gave  the  matter  no  consideration  save  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  on 
any  who  should  dispute  upon  it. 

Mr.  Tombes  became  pastor  of  Fenchurch,  London,  agreeing  with  the  church  that 
he  would  not  preach  against  infant  baptism,  and  that  they  should  admit  no  one  to 
preach  in  their  pulpit  in  its  favor.  Here  he  published  two  treatises  against  infant 
baptism,  one  of  which  was  his  Examen  of  Mr.  Marshall's  sermon,  and,  as  the 
result,  he  was  dismissed  from  his  church.  He  next  assumed  charge  of  a  parish  in 
Bewdly,  his  native  town.  While  here,  he  was  immersed  upon  profession  of  faith, 
and  gathered  a  church  of  those  who  were  in  agreement  with  him.  He  still  contin- 
ued to  act  as  minister  of  the  parish,  and  because  of  his  acknowledged  learning  and 
ability,  and  of  services  which  he  had  rendered  to  the  government,  he  was  held  in 
repute,  was  entrusted  witli  important  offices  in  the  national  church  and  enjoyed  the 
friendship  of  leading  men  in  the  country  notwithstanding  his  religious  views  and 
practice.  Several  times  lie  held  public  disputes  upon  baptism,  once  with  Richard 
Baxter,  when,  says  Anthony  Wood,  "all  scholars  there  and  present,  who  knew  the 
way  of  disputing  and  managing  arguments,  did  conclude  that  Tombes  got  the  bet- 
ter of  Baxter  by  far."     Many  of  his  most  distinguished  contemporaries  testify   to 


[1645.]  JOHN  TOMBES,  OF  LONDON.  147 

bly  were  more  ready  to  learn  severity  from  this  country,  than  these  were 
to  learn  lenity  from  any  ;  for  the  Independents  on  December  4,  1645,  pre- 
sented a  request  to  that  Presbyterian  Assembly,  '"  that  they  might  not  be 
forced  to  communicate  as  members  in  those  parishes  where  they  dwell ; 
but  many  have  liberty  to  have  congregations  of  such  persons  who  give 
good  testimonies  of  their  godliness,  and  yet  out  of  tenderness  of  conscience 
cannot  communicate  in  their  parishes  ;"  but  the  Assembly  returned  a  flat 
denial,  and  said,  "  This  opened  a  gap  for  all  sects  to  challenge  such  a  lib- 
erty as  their  due  ;  and  that  this  liberty  was  denied  by  the  churches  of  New 
England,  and  we  have  as  just  ground  to  deny  it  as  they."1 

Sir  Henry  Vane  also,  when  his  interest  in  Parliament  was 
very  great,  wrote  to  Governor  Winthrop  in  the  following 
terms : — 

Honored  Sir  : — I  received  yours  by  your  son,  and  was  unwilling  to  let 
him  return  without  telling  you  as  much.  The  exercise  and  troubles  which 
God  is  pleased  to  lay  upon  these  kingdoms,  and  the  inhabitants  in  them, 
teaches  us  patience  and  forbearance  one  with  another  in  some  measure, 
though  there  be  difference  in  our  opinions,  which  makes  me  hope  that,  from 
the  experience  here,  it  may  also  be  derived  to  yourselves  ;  lest  while   the 

his  great  learning  and  talent.  A  catalogue  of  his  writings  gives  the  titles  of  twenty- 
six  works,  fourteen  of  which  are  against  infant  baptism. 

The  manuscript  copy  of  his  Examen  of  Mr.  Marshall's  sermon  which  was  sent  to 
New  England,  is  now  in  the  library  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  Worces- 
ter.    With  it  is  the  following  letter : — 

"  To  all  the  elders  of  the  churches  of  Christ  in  New  England  and  to  each  in  par- 
ticular by  name ;  to  the  pastor  and  teacher  of  the  church  of  God  at  Boston, 
these  present : 

Reverexd  Brethren  : — Understanding  that  there  is  some  disquiet  in  your  chur- 
ches about  paedobaptism,  and  being  moved  by  some  that  honor  you  much  in  the 
Lord,  and  desire  your  comfortable  account  at  the  day  of  Christ,  that  I  would  yield 
that  a  copy  of  my  Examen  of  Master  Marshall  his  sermon  of  infant  baptism  might 
be  transcribed  to  be  sent  to  you ;  I  have  consented  thereto,  and  do  commend  it  to 
your  examination,  in  like  manner,  as  you  may  perceive  by  the  reading  of  it,  I  did 
to  Master  Marshall,  not  doubting  but  that  you  will,  as  in  God's  presence,  and 
accountable  to  Christ  Jesus,  weigh  the  thing;  remembering  that  your  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  John  vii,  24,  "  Judge  not  according  to  appearance  but  judge  righteous 
judgment."  To  the  blessings  of  him  who  is  your  God  and  our  God,  your  Judge 
and  our  Judge,  I  leave  you  and  the  flock  of  God  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  hath 
made  you  overseers,  and  rest. 

Your  brother  and  fellow-servant, 

JOHN  TOMBES. 

From  my  study  at  the  Temple  in  London,  May  25th,  1645." 

See  Crosby,  Vol.  I,  pp.  120—122,  278--297;  Hague's  Historical  Discourse,  pp. 
152 — 155. — Ed. 

'Crosby's  history,  Vol.  I,  pp.  185,  186. 


148  IIISTOKY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Congregational  way  amongst  you  is  in  its  freedom  and  is  backed  with  power, 
it  teach  its  oppugners  here  to  extirpate  it  and  root  it  out  from  its  own  prin- 
ciple- and  practice.  I  shall  need  say  no  more,  knowing  your  son  can  ac- 
quaint you  particularly  with  our  affairs.  Sir,  I  am  your  affectionate  friend, 
and  servant  in  Christ, 

II.  Vane.1 
June  10,  1G45. 

Had  not  the  notion  of  securing  religion  to  their  posterity, 
by  infant  baptism  and  the  magistrates'  power,  strongly  pre- 
possessed their  minds,  how  could  they  have  resisted  all  these 
motives  to  lenity  as  they  did  ?  That  they  were  under  a  very 
strong  bias  may  be  seen  in  three  pieces  which  were  written 
this  year  against  the  Baptists.  One  of  them  was  by  Mr. 
Cotton,  who  was  so  much  afraid  of  having  both  sides  of 
the  argument  examined,  that  he  gives  us  neither  the  names 
of  the  authors  he  wrote  against  nor  the  titles  of  their  works; 
only  he  owns  them  to  be  such  as  did  not  tw  deny  magistrates, 
or  predestination,  nor  original  sin  ;  nor  maintain  free  will  in 
conversion,  nor  apostacy  from  grace  ;  but  only  deny  the  law- 
ful use  of  baptism  of  children,  because  it  wantcth  a  word  of 
commandment  and  example  from  the  Scripture."  And  he 
says : — 

I  am  bound  in  Christian  love  to  believe,  that  they  who  yield  so  far,  do 
it  out  of  conscience,  as  following  herein  the  example  of  the  apostle,  who 
professed  himself,  and  his  followers,  We  can  do  nothing  against  the  truth, 
but  for  the  truth.  But  yet  I  believe  withal,  that  it  is  not  out  of  love  to 
the  truth  that  Satan  yielded  so  much  to  the  truth,  but  rather  out  of  another 
ground,  and  for  a  worse  end.  He  knoweth  the  times  that  how,  by  the 
good  and  strong  hand  of  God,  they  are  set  upon  purity  and  reformation. 
And  now  to  plead  against  the  baptism  of  children  upon  any  of  those  Ar- 
minian  and  popish  grounds,  which  be  so  grossly  ungracious  as  those  above 
named.  Satan  knoweth  and  seeeth  they  would  be  utterly  rejected.1  lie 
chooseth  therefore  rather  to  play  small  game,  as  they  say,  than  to  lose  all. 
lie  now  pleadetfa  no  other  argument  in  these  stirring  times  of  reformation 
than  may  be  urged  from  a  main  principle  of  purity  and  reformation,  viz., 
That  no  duty  of  (rod's  worship,  nor  any  ordinance  of  religion,  is  to  be  ad- 

'MaMachUiettl   History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  137. 

■Here  is  an  acknowledgment,  that  the  Baptists  of  that  day  did  not  hold  the  errors 
charged  upon  them  In  the  aforesaid  law. 


[1645.]  EEMARKS  OF  A  MINISTER  AT  LYNN.  149 

ministered  in  the  church,  bat  such  as  hath  just  warrant  from  the  word  of 
God.  And  by  urging  this  argument  against  the  baptism  of  children,  Sa- 
tan transformeth  himself  into  an  angel  of  light  ;  and  the  spirit  of  error  and 
profaueness  into  a  minister  of  truth  and  righteousness.  And  so  he  hopeth 
to  prevail,  either  with  those  men  who  do  believe  the  lawful  and  holy  use  of 
children's  baptism  to  renounce  that  principle,  and  so  to  renounce  also  all 
reformation  brought  in  by  it  ;  or  else,  if  they  stick  to  that  principle,  then 
to  renounce  the  baptism  of  children  ;  and  so  the  reformation  begun  will 
ueither  spread  far,  nor  continue  long.  For  if  godly  parents  do  withdraw 
their  children  from  the  covenant,  and  from  the  seal  of  the  covenant,  they 
do  make  void  (as  much  as  in  them  lieth)  the  covenant  both  to  themselves, 
and  to  their  children  ;  and  then  will  the  Lord  cut  off  such  souls  from  his 
people.  Gen.  xvii.  14.  And  so  the  reformation,  begun  with  a  blessing, 
will  end  in  a  curse,  and  in  a  cutting  separation  either  of  parents  or  of 
children,  or  both,  from  the  Lord  and  his  people.1 

About  the  same  time  a  minister  at  Lynn  wrote  a  volume 
against  various  Baptist  authors  ;  but  before  he  came  to  any 
of  their  arguments  he  said : — 

Ever  since  that  word  of  old,  "  I  will  put  enmity  betwixt  thee  and  the 
woman,  and  betwixt  thy  seed  and  her  seed,"  Satan  hath  had  a  special  spite 
at  the  seed  of  the  church.  Witness  that  act  of  Cain,  who  was  therein  of 
that  evil  one,  in  killing  his  brother  Abel.  Whence  also  that  project  of  Sa- 
tan, all  the  ways  that  may  be,  to  lay  foundations  of  corrupting,  and  in  time 
ruining  the  seed  of  the  church  by  unequal  marriages,  &c.  Gen.  vi.  1,2; 
Neh.  xiii.  23,  24.  Whence  also  that  act  of  his,  in  stirring  up  his  instru- 
ments to  deride  little  Isaac.  Whence  also  that  satanical  practice  of  seek- 
ing to  cut  them  off  by  Pharoah,  Exod.  i.  [15 — 17]  ;  by  Edomites,  Psalm 
cxxxvii.  8,  9  ;  by  Babylonians,  Jer.  ix.  [21]  ;  Syrians,  Dan.  i.  1 — 8  ; 
Herod,  Matt.  ii.  [16 — 18,]  &c.  ;  or,  if  they  be  not  cut  off  in  such  sort,  yet 
to  stir  up  persons  under  pretence  of  religion,  to  devote  them  unto  the  very- 
devil,  Jer.  vii.  31,  &c.  ;  Ezek.  xvi.  20,  &c.  ;  or  if  they  live,  yet  to  per- 
suade to  their  detainment  under  an  Egyptian  estate,  and  exclusion  from 

any  church  care  or  privilege Who  seeeth  not  how  Satan  doth  seek 

by  such  suggestions  to  undermine  the  succession  of  the  true  religion,  and 
of  true  visible  churches,  which  have  used  to  be  continued  in  and  by  the 
church  seed?  And  what  is  Satan's  fetch  to  bring  this  about,  but  the  old 
trick,  to  create,  (as  I  may  say)  scruples  in  the  hearts  of  God's  people, 
knowiug  well  that  it  is  a  taking  wile  first  to  bemist  through  such  legerde- 
main the  eyes  of  the  mind,  and  then  to  spoil  them  of  truth.  It  took  with 
our  grandmother  Eve,  and  was  the  inlet  of  all  error  and  evil.     "  Hath  God 

Cotton's  Grounds  and  Ends  of  Children's  Baptism,  printed  in  1647,  pp.  3,  4. 


150  HISTORY   OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

said  it  t"  was  the  old  serpentine  insinuation  to  blind   and  buzzle,  and  so 

corrupt  first  the  judgment  in  point  of  warrant  of  this  or  that  practice 

How  many  precious  professors,  to  outward  view  at  least,  did  at  first  enter- 
tain some  scruples  about  the  external  interest  cf  church  members'  children 
in  the  covenant,  and  initiatory  seal  of  it,  which  now  peremptorily  censure 
the  same  as  autiehristian  and  human  inventions?  Let  my  advice  be  grate- 
ful to  thee  thus  far,  Christian  reader,  to  take  heed  of  unnecessary  dis- 
courses and  disputes  with  satauical  suggestions,  under  what  promising  and 

plausible  pretences  soever  they  come It  is  not  the  first  age  or  time, 

that  satauical  suggestions,  "  Thus  it  is  written,"  and  u  Thus  saith  the  Lord" 
hath  been  propounded.1 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  in  our  day,  what  do 
you  think  of  our  good  fathers  who  held  to  infant  baptism  ? 
How  did  they  get  along  ]  Here  you  have  an  answer  in  their 
own  words  ;  and  the  famous  Dr.  Thomas  Goodwin  ushered 
these  performances  into  the  world  with  a  recommendatory 
preface  to  each  of  them  ;  and  the  sentiments  and  temper  of 
them  have  evidently  been  handed  down  by  tradition  ever 
since.  But  I  appeal  to  the  conscience  of  every  reader, 
whether  he  can  find  three  worse  things  on  earth,  in  the  man- 
agement of  controversy,  than,  first,  to  secretly  take  the  point 
disputed  for  truth  without  any  proof;  then,  secondly,  blend- 
ing that  error  with  known  truths,  to  make  artful  addresses 
to  the  affections  and  passions  of  the  audience,  to  prejudice 
their  minds,  before  they  hear  a  word  that  the  respondent 
has  to  say  ;  and,  thirdly,  if  the  respondent  refuses  to  yield 
to  such  management,  then  to  call  in  the  secular  arm  to  com- 
plete the  argument?  And  were  not  these  the  methods 
that  were  then  taken  to  support  picdobaptism  ?  The  pro- 
testants'  way  of  defending  their  cause  against  the  papists 
was,  "  If  that  ye  will  prove  that  your  ceremonies  proceed 
from  faith,  and  do  please  God,  ye  must  prove  that  God  in 
express  words  hath  commanded  them,  or  else  shall  you  never 
prove  that  they  proceed  from  faith,  nor  yet  that  they  please 

'Mr.  Thomas  Gobbet'fl  Vindication  of  the  Covenant  and  Church  Estate  of  Chil- 
dren of  Church  Members,  printed  in  London,  1648,  preface,  pp.  7 — 9.  Mr.  Tombes 
says  Mr.  Cotton  wrote  to  him,  that  the  piece  he  sent  them  was  delivered  to  Mr.  Cob- 
bet       answer. 


[1645.]  COTTON'S  ARGUMENTS  FOR  INFANT  BAPTISM.  151 

God."1  But  when  this  argument  was  urged  against  infant 
baptism,  Cotton  without  any  proof  asserts  that  "  Satan  trans- 
formed himself  into  an  angel  of  light."  And  the  whole  of 
the  above-recited  addresses  to  men's  and  women's  passions, 
is  evidently  founded  upon  the  supposition,  that  infant  bap- 
tism is  as  infallibly  required  by  God,  as  abstaining  from  the 
forbidden  fruit  was,  or  Abraham's  circumcising  his  children. 
Having  taken  the  very  point  which  is  disputed  for  truth, 
without  any  evidence,  they  blended  that  with  many  known 
facts  recorded  in  Scripture,  and  thereupon  rank  the  opposers 
of  that  point  with  the  old  serpent  the  devil  and  Satan,  and 
with  his  instruments  Cain,  Pharoah,  Herod,  and  other  mur- 
derers ;  yea,  with  such  as  sacrifice  their  children  to  devils  ! 
This  history  contains  abundant  evidence  of  their  adding  the 
magistrate's  sword  to  all  these  hard  words,  which  were 
used  in  their  prefaces  before  they  came  to  any  of  the  Bap- 
tists' arguments.  When  Mr.  Cotton  came  to  them,  the  first 
of  them  is,  that  in  Christ's  commission  to  his  ministers,  he 
ordered  them  first  to  teach  or  make  disciples,  and  then  to 
baptize  them  ;  and  he  says  two  arguments  offer  themselves 
for  his  way  from  hence  : — 

"1.  Such  as  be  disciples,  they  are  to  be  baptized  ;  but 
the  children  of  the  faithful,  they  are  disciples  ;  therefore 
children  of  the  faithful,  they  are  to  be  baptized."  To  sup- 
port this  assertion  he  turns  to  Isaiah  liv.  13,  "  All  thy  chil- 
dren shall  be  taught  of  God  ;"  and  says  he,  "  If  they  be 
taught  of  God,  then  are  they  his  disciples  ;  for  that  is  the 
meaning  of  the  word.  Disciples  are  taught  or  learnt  of 
God."2  This  is  true,  and  our  Lord  quotes  this  text  to  shew 
how  the  father  draws  souls  to  himself,  and  says  upon  it, 
" Every  man3  therefore  that  hath  heard,  and  hath  learned  of 
the  Father,  cometh  unto  me,"  John  vi.  45.     Can  we  desire 

Knox's  History  of  the  Reformation,  p.  104. 
2Cotton's  Grounds  and  Ends,  pp.  5,  6. 

3Note.     Christ  shows  that  the  word  i%  children"  in  that  text  means  posterity;  men 
that  are  taught. 


152  HISTORY  OF   THE    BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

a  more  exact  and  certain  definition  of  the  word  disciple  than 
we  have  here  ?  Let  conscience  speak  before  him  who  will 
judge  us  all.  Do  you  who  practice  in  this  disputed  way, 
believe  when  you  bring  your  infants  to  be  sprinkled,  that 
they  have  heard  and  learned  of  the  Father,  so  as  to  come  luito 
Christ  1  And  do  you  bring  them  because  they  are  taught  of 
God  I  If  they  are  not,  they  are  not  disciples  according  to  the 
known  meaning  of  the  word. 

Mr.  Cotton  frames  his  second  argument  from  Exod.  xii. 
48,  where  God  required  every  proselyte  to  have  all  his  males 
circumcised,  before  he  could  come  to  the  passovcr  ;  upon 
which  Cotton  says  : — 

If  then  our  Lord's  Supper  come  in  the  room  of  the  passover,  and  our 
baptism  in  the  room  of  circumcision,  like  as  he  that  hath  not  circumcised 
his  males,  was  accounted  as  one  uncircumcised  himself,  aud  so  to  be  de- 
barred from  the  passover,  so  he  who  hath  not  baptized  his  children,  is 
accounted  of  God  as  not  baptized  himself,  and  so  to  be  debarred  from  the 
Lord's  Supper.  If  therefore  you  forbid  baptism  to  children,  you  evacuate 
the  baptism  of  their  parents,  and  so  make  the  commandment,  of  God,  and 
the  commission  to  the  apostles,  and  the  baptism  of  believers,  of  none 
effect.1 

These  are  the  two  main  arguments  for  infant  baptism  to 
this  day  ;  and  they  both  hang  upon  the  little  word  if  which  I 
think  is  a  very  small  pin  to  rest  the  weight  of  whole  pro- 
vinces and  kingdoms  upon.  If  infants  are  disciples  by  virtue 
of  their  parents'  profession,  then  they  are  to  be  baptized  ; 
and  if  our  baptism  comes  in  the  place  of  the  circumcision 
of  Jewish  proselytes,  then  we  cannot  lawfully  admit  bring- 
ing our  infants  thereto.  But  what  if  this  supposition  should 
prove  to  be  as  contrary  to  truth  as  darkness  is  to  light,  will 
men  persist  in  that  way  still  I  Abraham  had  no  warrant  to 
circumcise  any  but  such  as  were  either  born  in  his  house  or 
bought  with  his  money.  The  first  order  that  was  given  for 
bringing  in  others  by  households  was  in  the  day  that  Israel 
came  out  of  Egypt.  Now  as  we  make  no  pretence  of  being 
Abraham's  natural  posterity,  nor  of  being  bought  with  Jew- 

'Cotton's  Grounds  and  Ends,  p.  11. 


[1645. 1  ARGUMENTS  AGAINST  INFANT  BAPTISM.  153 

ish  money,  the  argument  all  turns  upon  a  supposal  that 
Gentile  believers  ought  to  bring  their  households  with  them 
to  baptism,  as  the  said  proselytes  did  theirs  to  circumcision. 
But  I  know  not  how  words  can  express  the  contrary  more 
plainly  than  God  himself  has  done  in  this  case ;  for  he  says 
his  newT  covenant  is  not  according  to  that  he  made  with 
Israel  on  said  day.  Heb.  viii.  8 — 11.  Upon  this  men  often 
assert  that  the  ordinances  differ,  while  the  subjects  are  the 
same.  But  the  text  assures  us  expressly,  that  the  main  dif- 
ference is  in  the  subjects ;  that  the  subjects  of  the  new  cove- 
nant all  know  God  from  the  least  to  the  greatest.  When  this 
is  mentioned,  they  would  then  turn  it  to  the  difference 
betwixt  the  outward  administration  and  inward  efficacy  of 
the  covenant ;  but  that  cannot  be  here  intended,  because 
that  distinction  was  as  real  in  Abraham's  time  as  it  is  now, 
as  the  apostle  shows  in  Rom.  iv.  11  ;  which  text  is  often 
brought  for  a  proof  that  the  covenant  is  the  same  now  as 
with  Abraham.  It  does  prove  that  the  internal  efficacy  of 
divine  institutions  was  the  same  upon  believers  then  as  now  ; 
only  their  faith  was  fixed  on  a  future  Messiah,  ours  on  one 
already  come.  The  difference  then  betwixt  the  two  cove- 
nants we  are  speaking  of,  is  not  internal,  but  external.  By 
divine  institution  a  whole  family  and  a  whole  nation  were 
then  taken  into  covenant ;  now  none  are  added  to  the  church 
by  the  Lord  but  believers  who  shall  be  saved.  Acts  ii.  41, 
47.  Professors  who  had  not  this  character  were  "  false 
brethren  unawares  brought  in."  Gal.  ii.  4.  Their  being  in 
was  owing  to  men's  imperfection,  and  not  to  God's  institu- 
tion ;  yet  because  the  Baptists  refused  to  yield  to  a  practice 
they  viewed  to  be  not  only  without,  but  directly  against 
divine  institution,  they  were  abused  in  the  manner  above 
described.  And  Mr.  Cobbet  concludes  his  discourse  with  a 
few  inferences,  in  which  he  says  : — 

See  the  danger  and  detestableness  of  anabaptistical  tenets,  giving  God 
and  Christ  (in  part)  the  lie,  vailing  the  glory  of  his  preventing  grace  of 
covenant ;  Num.  xiv.  18  ;  ....  condemning  the  judgment  and  practice  of 


154  IIISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

former  churches,  Jews  and  Gentiles Whence  that  profane   trick  of 

some  to  turn  their  back  upon  the  churches  [when  they  sprinkled  infants]  as 
if  all  their  persons,  and  prayers,  and  fellowship,  were  unclean?  whence  the 
styling  of  it  antichristiau?  &c.  What  is  this  but  to  blaspheme  the  name 
and  tabernacle  and  saints  of  God?     Rev.  xiii.  [6.] 

Tims  the  Baptists  were  accused  by  those  noted  authors  of 
profaneness  and  blasphemy,  only  for  their  manifesting  by 
word  and  gesture  their  dissent  from  infant  sprinkling. 

Mr.  Nathaniel  Ward,  of  Ipswich,  (the  Indian  name  of 
which  was  Agawam.)  who,  with  Mr.  Cotton,  had  often  been 
improved  by  the  Court  in  composing  their  law-book,  pub- 
lished a  tract  this  year  under  a  fanciful  title,  which  contains 
the  following  addresses  to  the  Anabaptists  : — 

1.  To  entreat  them  to  consider,  what  a  high  pitch  of  boldness  it  is,  for 
a  man  to  cut  a  principal  ordinance  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  if  it  be 
but  to  make  a  dislocation,  which  so  far  disgoods  the  ordinance,  I  fear  it 
altogether  unhallows  it.  To  transplace  or  traustime  a  stated  institution  of 
Jesus  Christ,  without  his  direction,  I  think  is  to  destroy  it.1  2.  What  a 
cruelty  it  is,  to  divest  children  of  that  only  external  privilege  which  their 
Heavenly  Father  has  bequeathed  them,  to  interest  them  visibly  in  himself, 
his  Son,  his  Spirit,  his  covenant  of  peace,  aud  the  tender  bosom  of  their 
careful  mother  the  church.  3.  What  an  inhumanity  it  is,  to  deprive 
parents  of  that  comfort  they  may  take  from  the  baptism  of  their  infants 
dying  in  their  childhood.  4.  How  unseasonably  [unseasonable]  and  un- 
kindly it  is,  to  interturbe  the  state  and  church  with  their  Amalakitish  on- 
sets, wjien  they  are  in  their  extreme  pangs  of  travail  with  their  lives? 
5.  To  take  a  thorough  view  of  those  who  have  perambled  this  by-path  ; 
being  sometimes  in  the  crowds  of  foreign  wederdropcrs,  i.  e.  Anabaptists, 
and  prying  into  their  inward  frames  with  the  best  eyes  I  had,  I  could  but 
observe  those  disguised  guises  iu  the  generality  of  them.  1.  A  flat  for 
mality  of  spirit,  without  salt  or  savor  in  the  spiritualities  of  Christ  ;  as  it' 
their  religion  had  begun  aud  ended  with  their  opinion.  2.  A  shallow 
slighting  of  such  as  dissent  from  them,  appearing  too  often  in  their  faces, 
speeches  and  carriages.  3.  A  feeble  yet  peremptory  obstinacy.  Seldom 
are  any  of  them  reclaimed.2 

'How  easily  may  this  reasoning  be  retorted  ?      ( Ihlist'l  institution,  and  the  apostles' 

administration  of  baptism,  wen'  expressly  to  sneh  as  believed,  gladly  received  the 

word,  and   should    he  saved  ;   and    those  who    professed   sneh   a   faith,  went   into  the 
water,  and  were    huried    in  baptism  ;   and    according  to  this  writer's    doctrine,  how 
doei  it  destroy  the  ordinance  to  change  it  into  sprinkling  of  infants? 
'Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,  pp.  1G,  17;   Hubbard,  [155.] 


1.1645.]  WARD'S    ADDRESS   TO  ANABAPTISTS.  155 

By  these  extracts  the  reader  may  see  the  temper  and  lan- 
guage of  Paedobaptists  in  that  day,  and  how  much  of  the 
same  has  there  been  in  later  times  1  of  charging  us  with 
cruelty,  because  we  hold  that  no  acts  of  men  can  interest 
children  in  the  grace  of  God,  before  they  are  taught  and  be- 
lieve his  truth  ;  and  because  we  dare  not  place  our  hopes  of 
infants'  salvation  upon  the  doings  of  ministers  and  churches, 
instead  of  the  sovereign  mercy  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  un- 
to whom  vs  e  would  commit  them  by  believing  prayer,  and  if 
they  live,  we  would  use  all  gospel  methods  for  their  con- 
version, and  obedience  to  all  his  commands.  How  much 
also  have  we  seen  of  their  assuming  God's  prerogative,  in 
judging  the  hearts  of  such  as  yield  not  to  their  arguments  ] 

As  all  the  foregoing  means  were  ineffectual,  some  of  the 
ministers  presented  a  bill  to  the  General  Court  this  year,  for 
the  calling  a  synod  to  settle  these  and  other  ecclesiastical 
affairs.  "  The  magistrates  passed  the  bill,  but  some  of  the 
deputies  questioned  the  power  of  the  Court,  to  require  their 
churches  to  send  their  messengers  to  such  a  convention,  as 
not  being  satisfied  that  any  such  power  was  given  by  Christ 
to  the  civil  magistrates  over  the  churches  in  such  cases." 
This  caused  a  debate  the  conclusion  of  which  was, t;  that  the 
ensuing  synod  should  be  convened  by  way  of  motion  only  to 
the  churches,  and  not  in  words  of  command."1  The  order 
of  it  began  thus  : — 

Boston,  15th  3d  Month,  1646. 

The  right  form  of  church  government  and  discipline  being  agreed,  part 
of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  upon  earth,  therefore  the  establishing  and  settling 
thereof  by  the  joint  and  public  agreement  and  consent  of  churches,  and  by 
the  sanction  of  civil  authority,  must  needs  greatly  conduce  to  the  honor 
and  glory  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  settling  and  safety  of  church 
and  commonwealth,  where  such  a  duty  is  diligently  attended  and  per- 
formed.    Upon  which  they  sent  out  their  motion  for  said  synod. 

Hubbard,  [533,  534.] 


156  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS    IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

To  enforce  this  they  say  : — x 

For  [Through]  want  of  the  thiug  here  spoken  of,  some  differences  of 
opinion  and  practice  of  one  church  from  another  do  already  appear  amongst 
us  ;  and  others  (if  not  timely  prevented)  are  like  speedily  to  ensue,  and 
this  not  only  in  lesser  things,  but  even  in  points  of  no  small  consequence 
and  very  material ;  to  instance  in  no  more  but  those  about  baptism,  and  the 
persons  to  be  received  thereto,  in  which  one  particular  the  apprehensions 
of  many  persons  in  the  country  are  known  not  a  little  to  differ  ;  for  whereas 
in  most  churches  the  ministers  do  baptize  [only  such  children  whose  nearest 
parents,  one  or  both  of  them,  are  settled  members  in  full  communion  with 
one  or  other  of  these  churches,  there  be  some  one  who  do  baptize]'2  the 
children  if  the  grandfather  or  grandmother  be  set  [s'ich]  members,  though 
the  immediate  parents  be  not,  and  others,  though  for  avoiding  of  difference 
of  neighbor  churches  they  do  not  [as]  yet  actually  so  practice,  yet  they  do 
much  incline  thereto  [as  thinking  more  liberty  and  latitude  in  this  point 
ought  to  be  yielded  than  hath  hitherto  been  done].  And  many  persons 
living  in  this  country  who  have  been  members  of  the  congregations  in 
England,  but  are  not  found  fit  to  be  received  at  the  Lord's  table  here,  there 
be  notwithstanding  considerable  persons  in  these  churches  who  do  think 
that  children  of  these  also,  upon  some  conditions  and  terms,  may  and  ought 
to  be  baptized.  Likewise  on  the  other  side,  there  be  some  among  us  who 
do  think  that  whatever  be  the  state  the  parents,  baptism  ought  not  to  be 
dispensed  to  any  infants  whatsoever  ;  which  various  apprehensions  being 
seconded  with  practices  according  thereto,  as  in  part  they  already  are,  and 
are  like  to  be  more,  must  needs,  if  not  timely  remedied,  beget  such  differ- 
ences as  will  be  displeasing  to  the  Lord,  and  offensive  to  others,  and  dan- 
gerous to  ourselves. 

These  were  their  reasons  for  calling  the  synod.  The 
work  assigned  to  them  was  to  "  discuss,  dispute,  and  clear 
up  by  the  word  of  God,  such  questions  of  church  govern- 
ment, and  discipline,  in  the  things  aforementioned,  or  any 
other  as  they  shall  think  needful  and  meet,  and  to  continue 
60   doing,  till    they  or   the    major  part  of  them   shall  have 

'The  records  mention  two  reasons  besides  those  here  given,  for  calling  this 
synod.:— that  it  it  a  time  of  peace,  and  therefore  convenient  tor  settling  religious 
questions;  and  that  diver.-  friends  in  England  have  urged  this  good  work. —  Ed. 

'Backus  evidently  here  committed  an  error  which  is  <»ne  of  the  most  frequent 
errors  of  transcription.    The  word  "  baptize"  occurs  twice  mar  together,  and  he, 

misled  by  the  recurrence,  omitted  the  intervening  words,  and  thus,  as  is  shown  by 
the  words  supplied,  his  statement  in  this  clause  is  just  the  oppositeof  that  of  the 
document  which  he  is  copying.  —  Ho. 


[1646.]  ECCLESIASTICAL  SYNOD.  157 

agreed  [and  consented]  upon  one  form  of  government  and 
discipline,  for  the  main  and  substantial  parts  thereof,  as  that 
which  they  judge  agreeable  to  the  holy  Scriptures  ;"  which 
when  it  was  finished  was  to  be  presented  to  the  General 
Court,  "  to  the  end  that  the  same  being  found  agreeable  to 
the  word  of  God,  it  may  receive  from  the  said  General 
Court  such  approbation  as  is  meet,  that  the  Lord  being  thus 
acknowledged  by  church  and  state,  to  be  our  Judge,  our 
Lawgiver,  and  [our]  King,  he  may  be  graciously  pleased 
still  to  save  us,  as  hitherto  he  hath  done.1 

Here  we  may  plainly  see  wherein  their  great  mistake  lay. 
They  confounded  the  judgment  that  they  formed  upon  the 
Scripture  with  the  rule  itself.  Also  the  majority  assumed 
the  power  of  judging  for  the  whole,  and  of  punishing  dis- 
senters from  their  judgments,  as  breakers  of  God's  law;  a 
delusion  that  the  world  is  not  clear  of  to  this  day,  though 
light  and  truth  have  gained  much  since  that  time. 

We  are  told  that  opposition  was  made  in  some  of  the 
churches  against  sending  to  that  synod,  notwithstanding  the 
moderate  expressions  in  the  Court's  ordered  for  it.  Mr.  Hub- 
bard says  : — 

The  principal  men  who  raised  the  objections  were  some  who  lately  came 
from  England,  where  such  a  vast  liberty  was  pleaded  for,  by  all  that  rab- 
ble of  men  that  went  under  the  name  of  Independents,  whether  Anabap- 
tists, Antinomians,  Familists  and  Seekers,  far  beyond  the  moderate  limits 
pleaded  for  by  [the]  Congregational  divines  in  the  assembly  at  Westmins- 
ter, such  as  Dr.  Goodwin,  Mr.  Nye,  Mr.  Burroughs,  &c,  who  yet  [it  may 
be  intending  to  double  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  then  in  view,  as  was 
thought,]  tacked  about  further  than  they  need  to  have  done.  A  great  part 
of  the  Parliament  also,  then  in  being  inclined  much  that  way,  and  had  by 
their  commissioners  sent  word  to  all  the  English  plantations  in  the  West 
Indies,  and  Summer  Islands,  that  all  men  should  enjoy  their  liberty  of  con- 
science ;  and  had  by  their  letters  also  intimated  the  same  to  those  of  New 
England.  Some  few  of  the  church  at  [of]  Boston  adhered  to  these  princi- 
ples which  made  them  stickle  so  much  against  the  calling  of  the  synod  at 
that  time  ;  against  which  they  raised  a  threefold  objection.     1.  That  by  a 

lrThis  request  was  also  sent  to  the  churches  of  Plymouth  and  Connecticut  colonies. 
Massachusetts  Records. 


158  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

liberty  already  established  among  the  laws  of  New  England,  the  elders  or 
ministers  of  the  churches  have  [allowance  or]  liberty  to  assemble  upon  all 
occasions,  without  the  compliance  of  the  civil  authority.  2.  It  was  observ- 
ed that  this  motion  came  originally  from  some  of  the  [elders  or]  minis- 
ters, and  uot  from  the  Court.  3.  In  the  order  was  expressed,  that  what 
the  major  part  of  the  assembly  should  agree  upon  should  be  presented  to 
the  Court  for  their  confirmation. 

To  the  first  it  was  answered,  that  [the]  said  liberty  was  granted  only  for 
help  in  case  of  extremity,  if  in  time  to  come  either  the  civil  authority 
should  grow  opposite  to  the  churches,  or  neglect  the  care  of  them,  aud  uot 
with  any  intent  to  practice  the  same  while  the  civil  rulers  were  nursing 
fathers  to  the  church.1  To  the  second  it  was  answered,  it  was  not  for  the 
churches  to  enquire  what  or  who  gave  the  occasion  ;  but  if  they  thought  fit 
to  desire  the  churches  to  afford  them  help  of  council  in  any  matter[s]  which 
concerned  religion  and  conscience  it  was  the  churches'  duty  to  yield 
it  to  them ;  for  as  [so]  far  as  it  concerns  their  command  or  request, 
it  is  an  ordinance  of  man,  which  all  are  to  submit  unto  for  the 
Lord's  sake,  without  troubling  themselves  about  the  occasion  or  suc- 
cess  For   the   third,    where    the    order  speaks   of  the   major  part, 

'Mr.  Williams  in  discussing  Mr.  Cotton's  arguments  observed,  that  the  higher 
powers  in  Horn.  xiii.  were  strangers  to  God  and  true  religion,  from  whence  he 
argued,  that  for  Paul  to  command  subjection  to  such  in  spiritual  causes  Mould  have 
been  to  put  out  the  eye  of  faith,  reason  and  sense,  at  once.  [Bloody  Tenet,  p.  77.] 
To  which  Mr.  Cotton  answers,  ik  The  cases  of  religion  wherein  we  allow  civil  mag- 
istrates to  be  judges, are  so  fundamental  and  palpable,  that  no  magistrate  studious  of 
religion  in  the  fear  of  God,  but  if  he  have  any  spiritual  discerning,  he  cannot  but 
judge  of  such  gross  corruptions  as  unsufferable  in  religion. ...  But  [as]  for  such 
magistrates  as  are  merely  natural  and  pagan,  though  Christians  be  bound  to  subject 
themselves  to  then*  with  patienee ;  yet  such  magistrates  ought  to  forbear  the  exer- 
cise of  their  power,  either  in  protecting  or  punishing  matters  of  religion,  till  they 
have  learned  so  much  knowledge  of  the  truth,  as  may  enable  them  to  discern  of 
things  that  differ."  Tenet  washed,  pp.  101,  102.  In  reply  to  which  Mr.  Williams 
says,  "  0  the  miserable  allowance  which  Master  Cotton  hath  brought  the  kings  and 
governors  of  the  world  unto  !  We  allow  them  to  judge  in  such  fundamental,  &c." 
....The  magistrate!  must  wait  at  their  gates  for  their  poor  allowance.  They 
shall  judge,  and  they  shall  not  judge;  they  shall  judge  that  which  is  gross  and  pala- 
ble  [and]  enough  to  hold  the  people  in  slavery,  and  to  force  them  to  sacrifice  to  the 
priest's  belly  ;  but  the  more  sublime  and  nicer  mysteries  they  must  not  judge  or  touch 
but  attend  upon  the  tables  of  the  priest's  infallibility."  Williams's  Reply,  p.  152. 
"  [f  Christ  .Jesus  have  left  such  power  with  the  civil  rulers  of  the  world,  [kingdoms 
and  counties,  of  or]  for  the  establishing,  governing,  and  reforming  his  church,  what 
is  become  of  his  care  and  love,  wisdom  and  faithfulness,  since  in  all  ages  since  he 
left  the  earth,  for  the  general  [beyond  all  exception]  he  hath  left  her  destitute  of 
such  qualified  princes  and  governors,  and  in  the  course  of  his  providence  furnished 
her  with  such,  whom  he  knew  would  he  [and  all  men  find]  as  tit  as  wolves  to  protect 
and  feed  his  sheep  and  people!"     Ibid.  p.  202. 


[1647.]  ECCLESIASTICAL  SYNOD.  159 

it  speaks  in  its  own  language,  ....  but  it  never  intended  thereby  to  restrain 
[or  direct]  the  synod  in  the  manner  of  their  proceeding :  nor  to  hinder  them 
but  that  they  might  first  acquaint  the  churches   with  their  conclusions,  and 

have  their  assent  to  them,  before  they  did  present  them  to  the  Court 

This  matter  was  two  Lord's  days  in  agitation  with  the  church  in  Boston, 
before  they  could  be  brought  to  any  comfortable  conclusion  ;  but  on  a  lec- 
ture day  intervening,  Mr.  Norton,  teacher  of  the  church  at  Ipswich,  was 
procured  to  supply  t'e  place  at  Boston,  where  was  a  great  audience  ;  and 
the  subject  then  handled  was,  [suitable  to  the  occasion,  viz. :]  Moses  and 
Aaron  kissing  each  other  in  the  mount  of  God.  ....  On  the  next  Lord's 
day,  after  much  debate  in  Boston  church,  it  was  agreed  by  the  vote  of  the 
major  part,  that  the  elders  and  three  of  the  brethren  should  be  sent  [as 
messengers]  to  the  synod.1 

This  account  from  one  of  their  noted  ministers,  may  give 
us  considerable  light  about  the  actings  of  that  day.  He 
informs  us  that  the  synod  did  not  meet  till  near  winter,  when 
after  a  session  of  fourteen  days,  they  adjourned  to  June  8,2 
1647  ;  and  that  summer  proving  sickly,3  they  were  forced  to 
adjourn  again.  But  on  August  16,  1648,  they  met,  and  com- 
pleted the  Cambridge  platform  ;  the  last  article  of  which 
says : — 

"  If  any  church,  one  or  more,  shall  grow  schismatical,  rending  itself 
from  the  communion  of  other  churches,  or  shall  walk  incorrigibly  or  obsti- 
nately in  any  corrupt  way  of  their  own,  contrary  to  the  rule  of  the  word ; 
in  such  case  the  magistrate  [Josh.  22, J  is  to  put  forth  his  coercive  power, 
as  the  matter  shall  require.4 

This  principle  the  Baptists  and  others  felt  the  cruel  effects 
of  for  many  years  after.  A  clause  was  also  inserted  at  the 
end  of  their  tenth  chapter,  that  no  church  act  can  be  con- 
summated without  the  consent  of  both  elders  and  brethren  ; 
which  implicitly  gives  ministers  a  power  to  negative  the 
churches'  acts,  and  which  many  in  later  times  have  contended 
for,  though  that  would  give  them  such  a  lordly  power  over 
the  church,  as  chief  judges  in  the  state  are  not  allowed  to 

'Hubbard,  [534—536.] 

2In  the  original  edition  this  date  is  given  erroneously,  June  18. — Ed. 
3The  celebrated  Mr.  Hooker,  minister  of  Hartford,  died  July  7,  1647.     Hubbard, 
536,  537.— Ed. 
4Magnalia,  B.  5,  Vol.  II,  p.  203.— Ed. 


160  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

have  in  the  executive  courts  of  our  nation.  As  to  baptism, 
though  the  order  for  calling  the  synod  asserted  that  most 
ministers  do  baptize  the  grandchildren  of  church  members,1 
yet  that  assertion  was  so  far  from  truth,  that  those  who  ''la- 
bored much  to  have  this  principle  declared  and  asserted  in 
the  platform,"  could  not  effect  it  because  of  "  many  worthy 
men.'"2  Mr.  Hooker  had  published  his  testimony,  wherein 
he  asserted  "  that  children  as  children  have  no  right  to  [not 
right  unto]  baptism,  so  that  it  belongs  not  to  any  predeces- 
sors either  nearer  or  farther  off  removed  from  the  next  pa- 
rents to  give  right  of  this  privilege  to  their  children."3  Mr. 
Thomas  Shepard,  pastor  of  the  church  where  this  synod  met, 
had  also  publicly  asked  what  members  every  particular  visi- 
ble church  ought  to  consist  of?  and  answered,  that  "  Christ 
being  the  head  of  every  particular  church,  and  it  his  body, 
hence  none  are  to  be  members  of  the  church  but  such  as  are 
members  of  Christ  by  faith."  And  though  he  observes  that 
hypocrites  do  sometimes  creep  in,  yet  he  says,  "If  they  could 
have  been  known  to  be  such,  they  ought  to  be  kept  out ;  and 
when  they  are  known  they  are  orderly  to  be  cast  out."4  And 
there  was  still  more  regard  paid  to  this  first  principle  of  the 
New  England  churches,  than  could  consist  with  the  admis- 
sion of  persons  to  bring  their  children  to  baptism,  who  were 
"  not  found  fit"  for  the  other  ordinance. 

It  may  be  proper  now  to  take  a  further  view  of  the  affairs 
of  Mr.  Gorton  and  his  company.  Upon  their  being  released 
and  banished,  as  I  have  related,  they  went  to  Rhode  Island, 
and  from  thence  over  to  Narragansctt,  where,  on  April  19, 
1644,  they  procured  a  deed  from  the  sachems,  whereby  they 
resigned  themselves,  people,  lands,  rights,  inheritances,  and 
possessions,  over  unto  the  protection  and  government  of  King 
Charles  ;  and   appointed  Samuel  Gorton,  and  others   their 

'See  p  150,  note  2.— Ed.  'Magnalia,  B.  IV,  p.  17G. 

•Sunrej  of  Church  Discipline,  part  3,  pp.  12,  13. 

4First  Principles  of  the  Oracles  of  Gtod,  pp.  26,  2G.     [Works  of  Thomas  Shep- 
ard, Doctrinal  Tract  and  Book  Society,  Boston,  1853,  Vol.  I,  p.  350.] 


[1645.]  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY.  161 

agents,  to  carry  the  same  to  him.  This  was  signed  by  Passi- 
cus,  Canaunicus  and  Maxan,  and  witnessed  by  two  Indians  and 
three  English.  The  loss  of  their  great  sachem  Miantinomu 
lay  very  heavy  upon  their  spirits.  Hubbard  says,  he  "  was 
a  very  goodly  personage,  of  tall  stature,  subtile  and  cunning 
in  his  contrivements."1  In  May  came  a  letter  to  the  rulers 
at  Boston,  signed  by  Canaunicus,  though  written  by  some  of 
Gorton's  company,  to  this  effect,  that  they  purposed  to  make 
war  upon  Uncas,  in  revenge  of  the  death  of  Miantinomu  and 
others  of  their  people,  and  marvelled  that  the  English  should 
be  against  it ;  and  that  they  had  put  themselves  under  the 
government  and  protection  of  the  king  of  England,  and  so 
were  become  their  fellow  subjects,  and  therefore  if  any  dif- 
ference should  fall  between  them,  it  ought  to  be  referred  to 
him ;  professing  withal  their  willingness  to  continue  all 
friendly  correspondence  with  them.  The  General  Court  re- 
ceived another  letter  from  Gorton  and  his  company,  to  the 
like  effect.  "  June  23,  news  came  that  the  Narragansetts 
had  killed  six  of  Uncas's  men  and  five  women,  and  had  sent 
two  hands  and  a  foot  toPumham,to  engage  him  to  join  with 
them,  but  he  chose  to  keep  to  Massachusetts."2  Contentions 
increased  so  much  the  next  year  that  an  extraordinary  meet- 
ing of  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  was  called 
at  Boston,  on  July  28, 1645,  when  they  sent  three  messengers 
to  the  Narragansetts,  who  on  their  return  brought  a  letter 
from  Mr.  Williams  to  the  Commissioners,  assuring  them 
that  "  war  would  presently  break  forth,  and  that  the  Narra- 
gansett  sachems  had  lately  concluded  a  neutrality  with  Prov- 
idence, and  the  towns  on  Aquedneck  Island."  Upon  which 
they  determined  to  raise  an  army  of  three  hundred  men,  in 
the  following  proportion,  viz. : — One  hundred  and  ninety 
out  of  the  Massachusetts,  forty  out  of  Plymouth,  forty  out 
of  Connecticut,  and  thirty  out  of  New  Haven  colonies. 
Forty  were  raised  immediately,  and  sent  away  under  the 

Hubbard,  446.— Ed. 

2Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  166,  167,  169] ;  Hubbard,  [452,  453.] 
11 


162  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

command  of  Lieutenant  Humphrey  Atherton,  to  protect  Un- 
cas,  till  Captain  Mason  should  meet  him  there  with  the  west- 
ern forces,  who  were  then  to  proceed  to  meet  the  remainder 
of  the  forces  from  the  eastward,  in  Narragansett,  under  the 
command  of  Edward  Gibbons,  Major  General.  After  which 
Governor  Winthrop  informed  the  Commissioners,  "  that 
since  Miantinomu's  death  the  Narragansett  sachems  by  mes- 
sengers sent  him  a  present,  expressing  their  desire  to  keep 
peace  with  the  English,  but  desiring  to  make  war  with  Un- 
cas  for  their  sachem's  death."  The  present  was  about  the 
value  of  fifteen  pounds  in  wampum,  but  he  refused  to 
receive  it  upon  those  terms.  The  Commissioners  con- 
cluded to  take  the  present  into  their  hands,  and  there- 
upon sent  Captain  Harding  and  Mr.  Wilbore  to  those  sa- 
chems, who  were  to  take  Benedict  Arnold  with  them,  and 
inform  them  that  their  present  was  returned  and  not 
accepted,  unless  they  would  be  at  peace  with  Uncas  as  well 
as  the  English ;  but  if  said  sachems  would  come  with  them 
to  Boston,  they  should  have  liberty  safely  to  come  and  re- 
turn without  molestation,  to  treat  of  peace,  though  deputies 
in  their  stead  would  not  now  do.  The  messengers  return- 
ing brought  back  the  present,  and  informed  the  Commis- 
sioners that  they  found  not  Benedict  Arnold  at  Providence, 
and  heard  that  he  durst  not  adventure  himself  again  amongst 
the  Narragansett  Indians  without  a  sufficient  guard.  They 
also  understood  that  Mr.  Williams,  sent  for  by  the  Narra- 
gansett sachems,  was  going  thither,  wherefore  they  ac- 
quainted him  with  their  message,  shewed  him  their  instruc- 
tions,and  made  use  of  him  as  an  interpreter."  He  prevailed 
with  Passicas  and  others  to  go  to  Boston,  and  moved  the 
messengers  to  write  and  acquaint  Captain  Mason  of  the 
prospect  there  was  of  peace  ;  which  last  article  the  Com- 
missioners censured  them  for,  as  going  beyond  their  instruc- 
tions. The  English  demanded  two  thousand  fathoms  of 
wampum  to  pay  the  costs  of  this  expedition,  and  for  other 
damages  ;  which  the  Indians  were  compelled  to  yield  to,  and 


[1645.]  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY.  163 

to  give  hostages  till  it  was  paid  ;  and  so  articles  of  peace 
were  drawn  up  and  signed  between  them.  The  Commis- 
sioners afterward  drew  up  a  formal  declaration,  to  justify 
their  proceedings  in  said  war.1 

The  Indians  were  far  from  being  easy  under  these  things  ; 
and  in  August,  1648,  about  a  thousand  Indians  from  various 
parts  were  collected  in  Connecticut,  with  three  hundred 
guns  amoug  them  ;  and  it  was  reported  that  they  were  hired 
by  the  Narragansetts  to  fight  with  Uncas.  The  magistrates 
of  Hartford  sent  three  horsemen  to  enquire  what  they  de- 
signed, and  to  let  them  know  that  if  they  made  war  with 
him  the  English  must  defend  him,  upon  which  they  dis- 
persed. When  the  commissioners  met  at  Plymouth  the  next 
month,  they  ordered  four  men  to  be  sent  to  the  Narragan- 
setts, "  with  instructions  how  to  treat  with  them,  both  con- 
cerning their  hiring  other  Indians  to  war  upon  Uncas,  and 
also  about  the  tribute  of  wampum  that  was  behind.  Captain 
Atherton  and  Captain  Prichard  undertook  the  service,  and 
going  to  Mr.  Williams,  they  procured  that  the  sachems 
should  be  sent  for ;  but  they,  hearing  that  many  horsemen 
were  come  to  take  them,  shifted  for  themselves ;  Passicus 
fled  to  Rhode  Island ;  but  soon  after  they  were,  by  Mr. 
Williams's  means,  delivered  of  their  fears,  and  came  to  the 
messengers  as  they  were  desired,  and  denied  their  hiring 
the  Mohawks  to  war  against  Uncas,  though  they  owned  that 
they  had  sent  them  a  present.2 

Gorton,  Holden,  and  Greene,  went  to  England  to  carry 
the  Narragansett's  surrender  of  themselves  and  lands,  as 
well  as  their  own  complaints,  to  the  king ;  but  found  him 
not  able  to  help  either  himself  or  them.  However,  they 
published  their  case  and  a  narrative  of  their  sufferings,  in 
1645,  under  the  title  of  "  Simplicity's  Defence  against  seven- 
headed  Policy."  They  also  applied  themselves  to  the  Com- 
missioners whom  the  Parliament  had  appointed  over  the 

xKecords  of  the  United  Colonies.     Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  138—145... 
2Canaunicus  died  a  very  old  man,  on  June  4,  1648.     Hubbard,  [464.] 


164  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

affairs  of  the  plantations,  and  at  length  obtained  from  them 
the  following  letter  to  the  authority  in  the  Massachusetts 
colony,  viz. : — 

We  being  especially  intrusted,  by  both  houses  of  parliament  with  order- 
ing the  affairs  and  government  of  the  English  plantations  in  America,  have 
some  months  since  received  a  complaint  from  Mr.  Gorton  and  Mr.  Holden, 
in  the  name  of  themselves  and  divers  other  English,  who  have  transported 
themselves  into  New  England,  and  now  are  or  lately  were  inhabitants  of  a 
tract  of  land  called  the  Narragansett  Bay  ;  (a  copy  of  which  complaint  the 
enclosed  petition  and  narrative  will  represent  unto  your  knowledge)  we 
could  not  proceed  [forthwith  proceed]  to  a  full  hearing  and  determining 
[determination]  of  the  matter,  it  not  appearing  unto  us  that  you  were 
acquainted  with  the  particular  charge,  or  that  you  had  furnished  any  per- 
sons [person]  with  power  to  make  defence  in  your  behalf;  nor  could  we 
conveniently  respite  some  kind  of  resolution,  without  a  great  prejudice  to 
the  petitioners,  who  could  have  lain  under  much  incouveniency  if  we  had 
detained  them  from  their  families,  till  all  the  formalities  and  circumstances 
of  proceeding  (necessary  at  this  distance)  had  regularly  prepared  the  cause 
for  a  hearing.  We  shall  therefore  let  you  know  in  the  first  place,  that  our 
present  resolution  is  not  grounded  upon  an  admittance  of  the  truth  of  what 
is  charged  ;  we  knowing  well  how  much  God  hath  honored  your  govern- 
ment, and  believing  that  your  spirit  and  affairs  are  acted  by  principles  of 
justice,  prudence  and  [of]  zeal  to  God  ;  and  therefore  cannot  easily  receive 
any  evil  impressions  concerning  your  proceedings.  In  the  next  place  you 
may  take  notice  that  we  found  the  petitioners'  aim  and  desire,  in  the  result 
of  it,  was  not  so  much  a  reparation  of  what  was  passed,  as  a  settling  their 
habitations  for  the  future,  under  that  government,  by  a  charter  of  civil 
incorporation,  which  was  heretofore  granted  them  by  ourselves.  We  find 
withal  that  the  tract  of  land  called  the  Narragansett  Bay,  concerning  which 
the  question  is  [has]  arisen,  was  divers  years  since  inhabited  by  those  of 
Providence,  Portsmouth  and  Newport,  who  are  interested  in  the  complaint ; 
and  that  the  same  is  wholly  without  the  bounds  of  the  Massachusetts 
patent  granted  by  his  Majesty.  We  have  considered  that  they  be  English, 
that  the  forcing  of  them  to  find  out  new  places  of  residence  will  be  very 
chargeable,  difficult  and  uncertain,  and  therefore,  upon  the  whole  matter, 
do  pray  and  require  you  to  permit  and  suffer  the  petitioners,  and  all  the 
late  inhabitants  of  Narragansett  Bay,  with  their  families,  and  such  as  shall 
hereafter  join  with  them,  freely  and  quietly  to  live  and  plant  upon  the 
Shawomet,  and  such  other  part  [parts]  of  the  said  tract  of  land,  within  the 
bounds  mentioned  in  our  said  charter,  on  which  they  have  formerly  planted 
and  lived,  without  extending  your  jurisdiction  to  any  part  thereof,  or  other- 
wise disquieting  them  in  their  consciences   or  civil  peace,  or   interrupting 


[1646.]  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY.  165 

them  in  their  professions,  until  such  time  as  we  shall  have  received  your 
answer  to  their  claim  in  point  of  title,  and  you  shall  thereupon  have  re- 
ceived our  further  order  therein.  And  in  case  any  others,  since  the  peti- 
tioners' address  to  England,  have  taken  possession  of  any  part  of  the  lands 
heretofore  enjoyed  by  the  petitioners,  or  any  [of]  their  associates,  you  are 
to  cause  them  that  are  newly  possessed  as  aforesaid  to  be  removed,  that 
this  order  may  be  fully  performed.  And,  till  our  further  order,  neither  the 
petitioners  are  to  enlarge  their  plantations,  nor  are  any  others  to  be  suffered 
to  intrude  upon  any  part  of  the  Narragansett  Bay  ;  and  if  they  shall  be 
found  hereafter  to  abuse  this  favor,  by  any  act  tending  to  disturb  your 
rights,  we  shall  express  a  due  sense  thereof,  so  as  to  testify  our  care  of 
your  honorable  [honored]  protection  and  encouragement.  In  order  to  the 
effecting  of  this  resolution  we  do  also  require,  that  you  suffer  the  said 
Mr.  Gorton,  Mr.  Holden,  Mr.  Greene,  and  their  company,  with  their 
goods  and  necessaries,  to  pass  through  any  part  of  that  territory  which  is 
under  your  jurisdiction,  toward  the  said  tract  of  land,  without  molestation, 
they  demeaning  themselves  civilly,  any  former  sentence  of  expulsion  [or] 
otherwise  notwithstanding.  We  shall  only  add,  that  to  these  orders  of  ours 
we  shall  expect  a  conformity  [conforming  to],  not  only  from  [for]  your- 
selves, but  from  all  other  governments  and  plantations  in  New  England 
whom  it  [which  they]  may  concern.  And  so  commending  you  to  God's 
gracious  protection,  we  rest  your  loving  friends. 

From  the  Governor  in  Chief,  loving  Admiral,  and  Commissioners  for 
foreign  plantations,  sitting  at  Westminster,  15  May,  1646.1 

To  our  loving  friends  the  Governor,  Deputy  Governor  and  Assistants  of 
the  Massachusetts  plantations,  in  New  England. 
Warwick,  Governor  and  Admiral, 
Northumberland,  John  Holland, 

Nottingham,  H.  Vane,"2  &c. 

With  this  order  and  resolution  Mr.  Gorton  and  his  friends 
returned  to  Boston,  where  they  were  in  motion  to  apprehend 
them,  till  upon  shewing  the  State's  order  they  were  permit- 
ted to  return  to  Shawomet,  which,  in  honor  to  their  friend 
the  Admiral,  they  called  Warwick.  Sundry  of  them  lived 
there  to  old  age,  and  were  considerably  improved  in  the 
government  of  the  colony. 

*In  the  printed  Rhode  Island  Colony  Records,  this  clause  stands  as  follows  : — 
"[Office  of  the]  Chiefe  Lo  Adm'll  and  Comm'rs  for  foreign  plantations,  sitting  at 
Westminster,  15  day  of  May,  1G46. — Ed. 

'Providence  Records. 


166  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

As  there  was  no  particular  form  of  government,  nor 
appointment  of  officers  in  their  charter,  it  took  a  length  of 
time  to  settle  upon  a  method  that  was  agreeable  to  the 
majority  of  the  inhabitants.  Their  first  General  Assembly 
met  at  Portsmouth  on  May  19,  1647,  when  Mr.  John  Cogg- 
shall  was  chosen  President,  Mr.  Roger  Williams  Assistant 
for  Providence,  Mr.  John  Sanford  for  Portsmouth,  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Coddington  for  Newport,  and  Mr.  Randal  Holden  for 
Warwick.  Mr.  William  Dyre  was  chosen  Recorder.  They 
agreed  upon  a  body  of  laws,  chiefly  taken  from  the  laws  of 
England,  with  the  addition  of  a  few  suited  to  their  particu- 
lar circumstances.     They  also  ordered  as  follows : — 

Forasmuch  as  Mr.  Roger  Williams  had  taken  great  pains,  and  expended 
much  time,  in  £the]  obtaining  [of]  the  charter  for  this  province,  of  our  noble 
Lords  and  Governors,  be  it  enacted  and  established,  that  in  regard  to  his 
so  great  trouble,  [travail]  charges  and  good  endeavors,  we  do  freely  give 
and  grant  unto  the  said  Mr.  Roger  Williams  an  [one]  hundred  pounds,  to  be 
levied  out  of  the  three  towns,  viz.  :  fifty  pounds  out  of  Newport,  thirty 
pounds  out  of  Portsmouth,  [and]  twenty  pounds  out  of  Providence  ;  which 
rate  is  to  be  levied  and  paid  in  by  the  last  of  November. 

The  form  of  Government  which  they  came  into  was  thus 
to  elect  a  President  and  four  Assistants,  annually,  who  had 
executive  power,  were  judges  in  the  courts  of  law,  and  kept 
the  peace.  An  Assembly  of  sx  Commissioners,  or  Repre- 
sentatives from  each  town,  made  laws  and  ordered  their  gen- 
eral affairs  ;  but  their  laws  must  be  sent  to  every  town,  to  be 
deliberately  considered  in  their  town  meetings,  from  whence 
the  clerk  was  to  send  an  account  of  their  votes  to  the  Gen- 
eral Recorder,1  and  if  the  majority  of  the  towns  approved 
the  law,  it  was  confirmed,  if  not,  it  was  disannulled.  The 
Assembly  chose  yearly  a  General  Recorder  and  Gen- 
eral Sergeant,  which  are  only  other  names  for  a  secretary 
and  sheriff.  In  each  town  six  persons  were  yearly  chosen, 
who  were  called  the  Town-council,  who  had  the  powers  of 

'In  May,  1CG0,  they  enacted  that  the  return  of  their  votes  to  the  Recorder  must 
be  made  in  three  months. 


[1647. j  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY.  167 

a  court  of  probate,  of  granting  licenses  to  inn  keepers  and 
retailers,  and  the  care  of  the  poor. 

Persons  of  almost  all  sentiments  and  tempers  had  resorted 
to  this  new  colony,  and  various  contentions  and  parties  had 
appeared,  which  were  not  easily  composed  and  reconciled  ; 
but  toward  the  obtaining  of  such  a  desirable  end,  the  follow- 
ing covenant  was  drawn  and  signed  at  Providence,  viz. : — 

Considering  the  [that]  great  mercy  afforded  unto  us,  in  this  liberty  thus 
to  meet  together,  being  denied  to  many  of  our  countrymen  in  most  parts, 
especially  in  our  poor  native  country,  now  deploring  their  distressed  con- 
dition in  most  sad  and  bloody  calamities  ;  that  ingratitude  and  disacknow- 
ledgments  for  favors  received,  are  just  causes  for  the  deprivation  of  them, 
together  with  [our]  home  divisions  and  home  conspiracies,  the  ruination  of 
families,  towns  and  countries  ;  [town  and  country] moreover,  the  many  plots 
and  present  endeavors  at  home  and  abroad,  not  only  to  disturb  our  peace 
and  liberties,  but  utterly  to  root  up  both  root  and  branch  of  this  our  being  ; 
that  government  held  [holds]  forth  through  love, union  and  order,  although  by 
few  in  number  and  mean  in  condition,  yet  (by  experience)  hath  withstood  and 
overcome  mighty  opposers  ;  and  above  all,  the  several  [and]  unexpected  de- 
liverances of  this  poor  plantation,  by  that  mighty  Providence  who  is  still 
able  to  deliver  us,  through  love,  union  and  order,  therefore  being  sensible 
of  these  great  and  weighty  premises,  and  now  met  together  to  consult  about 
our  peace  and  liberty,  [liberties]  whereby  our  families  and  posterity  [pos- 
terities] may  still  enjoy  these  favors  ;  and  that  we  may  publicly  declare 
upon  all  the  free  discharge  of  all  our  consciences  and  duties,  whereby  it 
may  appear  upon  record  that  we  are  not  willfully  opposite,  nor  careless  and 
senseless,  and  thereby  the  means  of  our  own  and  others  ruin  and  destruc- 
tion ;  and  especially  in  testimony  of  our  fidelity  and  cordial  affection  unto 
one  another  here  present,  that  so  there  may  be  a  current  placable  [peacea- 
ble] proceeding,  we  do  faithfully  and  unauimously,  by  this  our  subscrip- 
tion, promise  unto  each  other  to  keep  unto  these  ensuing  particulars  : — 
First,  that  the  foundation  in  love  may  appear  among  us,  what  causes  of 
difference  have  heretofore  been  given  either  by  word  [s]  or  misbehavior, 
in  public  or  private,  concerning  particular  or  general  affairs,  by  any  of  us 
here  present,  not  to  mention  or  repeat  them  in  the  assembly,  but  that  love 
shall  cover  the  multitude  of  them  in  the  grave  of  oblivion.  Secondly,  that 
union  may  proceed  from  love,  we  do  promise  to  keep  constant  unto  those 
several  engagements  made  by  us,  both  unto  our  town  and  colony,  and  that 
to  the  uttermost  of  our  powers  and  abilities  to  maintain  our  lawful  rights 
and  privileges,  and  to  uphold  the  government  of  this  plantation.  Also  that 
love  may  appear  in  union,  we  desire  to  abandon  all  causeless  fears  and  jeal- 


168  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ousies  of  one  auother,  self-seeking  [s]  and  striving  [s]  one  against  another, 
only  aiming  at  the  general  and  particular  peace  and  union  of  this  town  and 
colony.  Lastly,  for  our  more  orderly  proceeding  in  this  Assembly,  where- 
by love,  [peace]  and  union  may  appear  in  order,  if  in  our  consultations 
differences  in  judgment  shall  arise,  then  moderately  in  order,  through  argu- 
mentation, to  agitate  the  same  ;  considering  the  cause  how  far  it  may  be 
hurtful,  or  conducing  unto  our  union,  peace  and  liberty,  [liberties]  and 
accordingly  act,  not  after  the  will  or  person  of  any,  but  unto  the  justice 
and  [or]  righteousness  of  the  cause.  Again,  if  [in  case]  such  cause  [s] 
shall  be  presented  wherein  such  difficulties  shall  appear,  that  evident  argu- 
ments cannot  be  given  for  present  satisfaction,  but  that  either  town  or  col- 
ony or  both  shall  suffer,  then  to  take  into  our  consideration  a  speech  of  a 
beloved  friend,  "Better  to  suffer  an  inconvenience  thau  a  mischief,"  better 
to  suspend  with  a  loss  which  may  be  inconvenient,  than  to  be  totally  dis- 
united and  bereaved  of  all  rights  and  liberties,  which  will  be  a  mischief 
indeed.  Moreover  that  offences  and  distractions  may  be  prevented,  that  so 
the  current  of  business  [disturbances]  may  peaceably  proceed  in  this 
Assembly,  we  do  faithfully  promise  to  carry  ourselves,  in  words  aud  beha- 
vior, so  moderately  and  orderly  as  the  cause  shall  permit,  and  if  [in  case 
or]  any  of  us  shall  fly  out  in  provoking,  scurrilous  [or]  exorbitant  speeches, 
and  [or]  unsuitable  behavior,  that  he  or  they  so  doing  shall  be  publicly  de- 
clared, branded  and  uoted  upon  record  to  be  a  covenant  violator,  and  distur- 
ber of  the  union,  peace,  and  liberrty  [liberties]  of  this  plantation.  We  do 
here  subscribe  without  partiality.     Dated  December,  1647. 

Robert  Williams,  Roger  Williams, 

John  Smith,  Hugh  Bewit, 

William  Wickenden,         John  Field,1 
Thomas  Hopkins,  William  Hawkins. 

This  preferring  of  the  public  good  to  private  interest  or 
inclination,  Mr.  Williams  discovered  as  much  of,  through 
his  life,  as  perhaps  any  man  has  done  in  latter  ages  ;  but 
alas  !  he  had  to  do  with  many  who  were  not  of  this  dispo- 
sition. 

In  their  General  Assembly  at  Providence,  May  16,  1648, 
Mr.  Coddington  was  elected  President,  and  Jeremiah  Clarke, 
Roger  Williams,  William  Baulston.  and  John  Smith,  Assis- 
tants ;  Philip  Sherman,  Recorder,  and  Alexander  Partridge, 

'The  original  edition  reads  "John  Tripp,"  instead  of  John  Field.  The  error  has 
been  corrected  from  the  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records.  The  person  here  referred 
to  is  undoubtedly  the  John  Field  mentioned  on  page  74. — Ed. 


[1648.]  GORTON  AND  HIS  COMPANY.  169 

General  Sergeant;  but  Mr.  Coddington  absented  himself, 
Mr.  Dyre,  the  late  recorder,  having  exhibited  divers  bills  of 
complaint  against  him,  and  he  did  "  not  attend  this  Court  for 
the  clearing  of  the  accusations  charged  upon  him ;"  upon 
which  the  Assembly  passed  an  act  that  in  such  a  case  the 
Assistant  of  the  town  where  the  President  lived  should  sup- 
ply his  place'1 

Mr.  Coddington  wrote  to  Governor  Winthrop  the  25th  of 
the  same  month  : — 

Mr.  Baulstone,  and  some  others  of  this  island,  are  in  disgrace  with  the 
people  in  Providence,  Warwick,  and  Gorton's  adherents  on  the  island,  for 
that  we  will  not  interpose  or  meddle  at  all  in  their  quarrels  with  the  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  the  rest  of  the  colonies  ;  and  do  much  fear  that  Gorton 
will  be  a  thorn  in  their  [and  our]  sides,  if  the  Lord  prevent  not.2 

And  when  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  met 
in  September  this  year,  he  and  Captain  Partridge  went  to 
them  and  said  : — 

Our  request  and  motion  is  in  the  behalf  our  island,  that  we  the  islanders 
of  Rhode  Island  may  be  received  into  a  combination  with  all  the  United 
Colonies  of  New  England,  into  a  firm  and  perpetual  league  of  friendship 
and  amity,  for  [of]  offence  and  defence,  mutual  advice  and  succor,  upon 
all  just  occasions,  for  our  mutual  safety  and  welfare,  and  for  preserving 
of  peace  amongst  ourselves,  and  preventing  as  much  as  may  be,  all  occa- 
sions of  war  or  [and]  differences,  and  to  this  our  motion  we  have  the 
consent  of  the  major  part  of  our  island. 

William   Coddington, 
Alexander  Partridge.3 

Thus,  under  a  pretence  of  promoting  peace,  they  would 
have  separated  the  island  from  the  rest  of  that  little  colony. 
However  the  Commissioners  were  not  willing  to  own  them 
as  a  distinct  colony,  but  would  have  the  island  to  be  included 
in  Plymouth  patent,  and  if  the  majority  of  its  inhabitants 
would  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  under  that  jurisdiction, 

'All  the  articles  from  Mr.  Gorton's  return  till  now  are  taken  from  the  colony  and 
Providence  town  records,  compared  with  Mr.  Callender  and  others. 
2Hutchinson's  Collection,  p.  225, — Ed. 
3Ibid,  p.  226— Ed. 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

they  were  willing  then  to  afford  them  the  same  advice  and 
help  as  they  did  to  others.1  Mr.  Edward  Winslow  had  been 
sent  over  to  England  their  agent,  to  answer  the  complaints 
of  Gorton's  company,  and  to  support  their  claims  against 
that  little  colony ;  but  he  wrote  from  London  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  United  Colonies,  April  17,  1651,  and 
said  : — 

Since  I  perceived  by  letters  from  Plymouth,  that  after  another  year's 
warning  nothing  is  likely  to  be  done,  in  reference  to  the  old  order  of  Lords 
and  Commons  sent  over  ;  I  looked  upon  it  as  a  vain  thing  to  strive  against 
the  stream  ;  whereas  [when  as]  indeed  that  was  the  main  material  objec- 
tion above  a  twelvemonth  since,  which  I  could  not  answer,  that  we  had 
such  an  order,  but  never  looked  after  the  performance  thereof,  nor  made 
any  return  upon  it.2 

While  various  parties  were  exerting  themselves  in  different 
ways,  Mr.  Williams,  on  August  31,  1648,  made  the  follow- 
ing motion  to  the  town  of  Providence,  viz. : — 

Worthy  Friends  :  that  ourselves  and  all  men  are  apt  and  prone  to 
differ,  it  is  no  new  thing.  In  all  former  ages,  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  in 
these  parts,  and  in  our  dear  native  country  and  mournful  state  of  England, 
that  either  part  or  party  is  most  right  in  his  own  eyes,  his  cause  right,  his 
carriage  right,  his  arguments  right,  his  answers  right,  is  as  wofulty  and 
constantly  true  as  the  former.  And  experience  tells  us,  that  when  the  God 
of  peace  hath  taken  peace  from  the  earth,  one  spark  of  action,  word  or 
carriage,  is  too  powerful  to  kindle  such  a  fire  as  burns  up  towns,  cities, 
armies,  navies,  nations  and  kingdoms.  And  since,  dear  friends,  it  is  an 
honor  for  men  to  cease  from  strife  ;  since  the  life  of  love  is  sweet,  and  union 
is  as  strong  as  sweet ;  and  since  you  have  beeu  lately  pleased  to  call  me  to 
some  public  service,  and  my  soul  hath  been  long  musing  how  I  might 
bring  water  to  quench,  and  not  oil  or  fuel  to  the  flame,  I  am  now  humbly 
bold  to  beseech  you,  by  all  those  comforts  of  earth  and  heaven  which  a 
placable  and  peaceable  spirit  will  bring  to  you,  and  by  all  those  dreadful 
alarms  and  warnings  either  amongst  ourselves,  in  deaths  and  sicknesses, 
or  abroad  in  the  raging  calamities  of  the  sword,  death  and  pestilence  ;  I 
say  I  humbly  and  earnestly  beseech  you  to  be  willing  to  be  pacifiable, 
willing  to  be  reconcilable,  willing  to  be  sociable,  and  to  listen  to  the  (I 
hope  not  unreasonable)  motion  following : — To  try  out  matters  by  disputes 
and   writings,  is   sometimes  endless  ;  to  try  out   arguments  by  arms    and 

Massachusetts  History,  vol.  3.  pp.  225—227.  'Ibid,  p.  229. 


[1648.]  LETTER  FROM  ROGER  WILLIAMS.  171 

swords,  is  cruel  and  merciless  ;  to  trouble  the  state  and  lords  of  England, 
is  most  unreasonable,  most  chargeable  ;  to  trouble  our  neighbors  of  other 
colonies,  seems  neither  safe  nor  honorable.  Methinks,  dear  friends,  the 
colony  now  looks  with  the  torn  face  of  two  parties,  and  that  the  greater 
number  of  Portsmouth,  with  other  loving  friends  adhering  to  them,  appear 
as  one  grieved  party  ;  the  other  three  towns,  or  greater  part  of  them,  appear 
to  be  another.  Let  each  party  choose  and  nominate  three  ;  Portsmouth 
and  friends  adhering  three,  the  other  party  three,  one  out  of  each  town. 
Let  authority  be  given  to  them  to  examine  every  public  difference,  griev- 
ance and  obstruction  of  justice,  peace  and  common  safety.  Let  them,  by 
one  final  sentence  of  all  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  end  all,  and  set  the 
whole  into  an  unanimous  posture  and  order,  and  let  them  set  a  censure 
upon  any  that  shall  oppose  their  sentence.  One  log,  without  your  gentle 
help,  I  cannot  stir.  It  is  this.  How  shall  the  minds  of  the  towns  be 
known?  How  shall  the  persons  chosen  be  called?  time  and  place  appointed 
in  any  expedition  ?  For  myself  I  can  thankfully  embrace  the  help  of  Mr. 
Coddington  or  Mr.  Clarke,  joined  or  apart,  but  how  many  are  there  who 
will  attend  (as  our  distempers  are)  to  neither  !  It  is,  gentlemen,  in  the 
power  of  the  body  to  require  the  help  of  any  of  her  members,  and  both 
king  and  parliament  plead,  that  in  extraordinary  cases  they  have  been 
forced  to  extraordinary  ways  for  common  safety.  Let  me  be  friendly  con- 
strued, if  (for  expedition,)  I  am  bold  to  be  too  forward  in  this  service,  and 
to  say,  that  if  within  twenty  days  of  the  date  hereof,  you  please  to  send  to 
my  house,  at  Providence,  the  name  of  him  whom  you  please  to  nominate, 
at  your  desire  I  will  acquaint  all  the  persons  chosen  with  place  and  time, 
unto  which  in  your  name  I  shall  desire  their  meeting  within  ten  days,  or 
thereabouts,  after  the  receipt  of  your  letter.  I  am  your  mournful  and 
unworthy  Roger  Williams.1 

This  address  had  such  effect,  that  Mr.  Williams  was  re- 
ceived to  act  as  President  of  the  colony,  till  their  election  at 
Warwick,  May  22,  1649,  when  Mr.  John  Smith  was  chosen 
President,  and  Thomas  Olney,  John  Sanford,  John  Clarke, 
and  Samuel  Gorton,  Assistants  ;  Philip  Sherman,  Recorder  ; 
Richard  Knight,  Sergeant,  and  John  Clarke,  Treasurer. 
Mr.  Williams  was  chosen  "  to  take  a  view  of  the  records 
delivered  into  the  Court  by  Mr.  William  Dyre."  And  they 
made  a  law  that  if  a  President  should  be  elected,  and  should 
refuse  to  serve,  he  should  be  fined  ten  pounds  ;  and  if  an 
Assistant  refused,  five  pounds.    Also  it  was  "  ordered  that  a 

Providence  Records. 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

messenger  be  sent  to  Pumham  and  the  other  sachems,  to 
require  them  to  come  to  this  Court ;  and  that  letters  be  sent 
to  Benedict  Arnold  and  his  father,  and  the  rest  of  Pawtuxet, 
about  their  subjecting  to  this  colony."  Mr.  Dyre  again  pre- 
sented his  complaints  against  Mr.  Coddington,  but  they  were 
deferred. 

At  the  Assembly  at  Newport,  May  23,  1650,  a  fresh  order 
was  sent  to  the  towns,  to  collect  and  pay  what  they  owed  to 
Mr.  Williams  for  the  charter,  within  twenty  days.  William 
Arnold  and  William  Carpenter,  instead  of  submitting  to  the 
government  of  their  own  colony,  went  again  and  entered 
complaints  against  some  of  their  neighbors  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts rulers,  and  they  sent  a  citation  to  them  to  come  and 
answer  the  same  in  their  courts,  dated  from  Boston,  June 
20,  1650,  signed  by  Edward  Rawson,  secretary.1  Such 
obstructors  of  good  government  were  they  who  have  made 
a  great  noise  in  the  world  about  the  disorders  of  Rhode 
Island  colony  !  In  1651,  Mr.  Coddington  caused  a  terrible 
difficulty  among  them,  as  will  be  seen  in  its  place,  though 
another  affair  must  be  attended  to  first. 

'Providence  Records, 


CHAPTER    IV. 


An  account  of  Mr.  Clarke  and  Mr.  Holmes,  and  of  their  sufferings 

at  Boston  in  1651. 

It  has  already  been  seen  that  Mr.  John  Clarke  was  a  prin- 
cipal instrument  in  procuring  Rhode  Island  for  a  people  who 
were  persecuted  elsewhere,  and  that  he  was  the  first  religi- 
ous minister  on  the  island,  and  serviceable  also  in  their  civil 
government;  yet  all  this  did  not  prevent  his  being  most 
abusively  treated  this  year  in  Boston,  with  two  other  mem- 
bers of  his  church. 

The  best  account  of  Mr.  Obadiah  Holmes  that  I  have  seen, 
is  in  a  manuscript  which  he  left  to  his  children,  that  a  gen- 
tleman of  his  posterity  has  favored  me  with,  an  extract  of 
which  I  will  give  in  his  own  words.     Says  he : — 

First,  I  must  remember  my  honored  parents,  who  were  faithful  in  their 
generation,  and  of  good  report  among  men,  and  brought  up  their  children 
tenderly  and  honorably.  Three  sons  they  brought  up  at  the  university  in 
Oxford ;  but  the  most  of  their  care  was  to  inform  and  instruct  them  in  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  ;  and  to  that  end  gave  them  much  good  counsel,  carrying 
them  often  before  the  Lord  by  earnest  prayer ;  but  I,  the  most  rebellious 
of  all,  did  neither  hearken  to  counsel  nor  any  instruction,  for  from  a  child 
I  minded  nothing  but  folly  and  vanity,  and  as  years  did  grow  on,  and  wis- 
dom should  have  taken  place,  then  the  wisdom  I  had  was  wise  to  do  evil, 

but  to  do  well  had  no  knowledge As  days   and  strength  increased, 

even  so  did  my  transgressions,  so  that  I  became  hardened  in  sin,  not  only 
to  be  drawn  into  it  by  others,  but  was  as  forward  to  draw  others  into  evil 
as  my  fellows,  ....  being  come  to  that  height  of  wickedness  that  I  did 
think  it  best  when  I  could  do  the  most  wickedness,  and  began  to  think  that 


17-4  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

it  was  but  a  foolish  thing  to  talk  of  God,  that  should  bring  man  to  judg- 
ment ;  .  . . .  continuing  in  such  a  course  for  four  or  five  years,  and  then  be- 
gan to  bethink  what  counsel  my  dear  parents  had  given  me,  many  a  time 
with  tears  and  prayers  ;  my  rebellion  to  my  houored  parents  then  looked 
me  in  open  face,  and  my  dear  mother  being  sick,  it  struck  to  me  my  diso- 
bedient acts,  which  forced  me  to  confess  the  same  to  her.  After  this  I  be- 
gan to  go  to  hear  the  Word  preached,  but  every  word  was  against  me,  and 
left  me  without  hope  of  mercy  ;  and  sometimes  passing  over  a  field  called 
the  Twenty  Acres,  stood  still  and  said,  Oh  !  that  I  might  lie  in  hell  but  so 

many  years  as  here  are  grass  !     It  would  have  an  end That  word 

was  ever  before  me,  "'The  wicked  shall  be  turned  to  hell ;"  "Where  the 
worm  dieth  not,"  &c.  And  yet  at  this  time  Satan  tells  me,  It  is  best  to 
put  such  thoughts  out  of  miud,  and  take  pleasure  while  thou  art  here,  and 
return  to  thy  former  merry  companions  and  friends  ;  which  I  did  for  a 
time  ;  but  the  worm  in  the  conscience  did  still  gnaw.  I  went  to  hear  the 
most  noted  men  I  could,  but  found  it  still  against  me  ;  yet  often  heard 
them  say,  1  must  repent  and  be  humbled,  and  must  pray,  and  then  should 
find  mercy  ;  but  must  confess  sins  and  forsake  them  ;  which  brought  me 
to  a  resolution,  in  the  most  public  way  or  company  I  could  find,  ever  so  to 
do  ;  and  had  done  it  through  ignorance,  had  not  a  friend  advised  me  to  the 
contrary,  and  that  upon  good  grounds.  But  he  also  put  me  upon  prayer 
and  hearing.  I  then  fell  to  prayer  and  duties,  but  found  no  rest  or  quiet 
in  my  soul ;  for  then  Satan  let  fly  at  me,  and  told  me,  it  was  too  late  to  re- 
turn, for  there  was  no  hope  for  me.  I  answered  him,  and  did  instance 
several  of  my  wicked  companions  God  had  shown  mercy  unto  a  little  be- 
fore. He  answered,  Remember  thou  scorned,  mocked  and  derided  them ; 
yea  saying  the  devil  was  in  them,  they  were  all  mad,  and  become  fools  ; 
and  withal  he  told  me  I  had  read  and  heard  that  there  was  a  sin  that  never 
could  be  forgiven,  the  which  sin  I  had  committed.  With  this  assault  he 
fooled  me  a  long  time,  even  my  life  was  a  burden  to  me.  Oh  !  the  knives, 
ropes,  trees,  coal  pits,  can  witness  the  many  escapes  of  them,  as  one  in  a 
most  undone,  desperate  condition,  as  one  appointed  to  eternal  destruction. 
The  perplexity  of  mind  brought  me  to  great  weakuess  in  body,  and  yet  for 
ease  and  comfort  I  turned  over  every  stone,  hearkened  to  all  my  acquaint- 
ance and  friends,  as  to  leave  off  my  old  ways,  and  all  my  old  companions, 
which  I  had  done  before  ;  but  all  this  while  I  never  considered  siu  accord- 
ing to  the  true  nature  of  it,  as  being  loathsome  to  the  Lord,  but  as  it 
brouqht  judgment  upon  me  ;  yet  was  I  fearful  to  siu,  and  began  to  love  to 
read  the  Scriptures,  and  frequent  prayer  and  other  duties,  aud  took  delight 
among  professors  that  were  of  the  strictest  sort,  easily  seeing  the  gross 
evil  and  danger  of  the  formal  ministers  and  professors,  and  so  that  con- 
formity was  only  superstition  and  a  name.  Yet  for  all  that  I  had  no  rest 
in  my  soul,  though  I  was  iu  a  mauner  as  strict  as  any.     As  I  was  enlarged 


[1651.]  OBADIAH  HOLMES.  175 

in  sorrow  for  sin,  deep  in  humiliation,  enlarged  in  prayer,  or  filled  with 
tears,  my  comfort  came  in  and  increased  ;  but  as  I  failed  in  them,  so  my 
sorrows  renewed  ;  and  when  I  looked  over  my  best  performances  found 
them  full  of  sin.  Oh  !  then  the  fears,  doubts  and  questioning  of  my  own 
estate  !  I  judged  it  was  all  done  in  hypocrisy,  which  sin  my  soul  did  then 
abhor.  In  this  sad  and  doubtful  state  I  continued  very  long,  yea  many 
years.  And  although  I  could  speak  comfortably  to  others,  yet  had  often 
much  disquiet  within  my  soul ;  my  comforts  were  according  to  my  enlarge- 
ments. Not  long  after  this  there  was  in  me  a  great  love  to  the  Lord  ;  but 
alas  !  I  was  deceived  by  my  own  heart,  and  the  ministers  who  told  me 
there  must  be  such  and  such  a  love  to  him,  as  to  keep  to  him  [me]  in  duty, 
and  to  part  with  all  for  him,  but  they  left  me  short  of  understanding  him 
as  I  should,  and  my  selfish  heart  was  willing  to  love  him  or  part  with  all 
for  him,  yea  my  dear  honored  father,  brethren  and  friends,  house  and  lands, 
and  my  own  native  country,  for  time,  and  to  avoid  those  popish  relics  of 
the  bishops,  and  that  filthy  rabble,  and  to  separate  from  them,  and  all  those 
that  mention  them  :  and  was  fully  known  in  my  own  country,  and  adven- 
tured the  danger  of  the  seas  to  come  to  New  England,  where  I  tried  all 
things  in  several  churches,  and  for  a  time  thought  I  had  made  a  good  choice 
or  change  ;  but  in  truth  it  little  differed  from  former  times,  and  my  spirit 
was  like  a  wave  tossed  up  and  down,  as  not  yet  come  to  dig  so  deep  as  I 
should,  or  to  consider  the  only  ground  of  a  well  grounded  hope,  which  God 
at  last  brought  me  to  consider,  which  is,  His  own  love  to  poor  lost  man, 
which  first  was  in  his  own  secret  council  and  purpose  before  man  was,  and 
revealed  to  man  in  his  time  ;  and  that  there  is  no  preparative  necessary  to 
obtain  Christ,  nor  any  thing  to  deserve  that  love,  or  to  merit  the  same. 
And  nothing  could  stay  or  satisfy  my  soul  till  I  came  to  consider  why, 
when  and  upon  whom  he  laid  sin  and  transgression,  namely,  on  the  Lord, 
and  on  him  alone.  And  looking  at  me  when  a  rebel,  an  enemy,  yea  dead 
in  sin  and  trespasses,  yea  in  my  blood,  he  then  said,  Live,  through  the 
blood  of  Christ  be  cleansed,  and  in  him  be  loved,  for  his  own  love  to  poor 
man,  and  that  the  election  may  obtain  it,  for  he  knows  who  are  his  ;  but 
good  will  is  manifested  before  they  have  done  either  good  or  evil,  so  that 
neither  good  foreseen  shall  prevail,  nor  evil  original  or  actual  shall  hinder, 
but  that  free  grace  may  have  its  free  course  ;  but  manifested  when  he  giveth 
faith  to  believe  the  promise  of  the  Father  in  giving  a  full  discharge  to  the 
soul,  by  taking  full  satisfaction  from  his  only  Son,  who  became  sin  for  us, 
who  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  through 
him  ;  and  so  remission  and  free  pardon  is  granted  forth,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieves in  him  shall  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life  ;  and  all  those  that 
so  come  to  him  he  will  no  ways  cast  away.  And  when  God  had  given  me 
to  see  in  any  measure  this  love  of  his,  then  and  not  till  then  could  I  give 
over  working  for  life,  and  to  live  in  working.     But  at  last  he  caused  me  to 


1  76  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

say,  that  from  life  I  must  work,  and  then  all  my  former  turnings  and  re- 
turnings  must  come  to  nought,  yea  all  my  righteousness  as  filthy  rags,  and 
to  account  all  as  dung,  so  I  might  obtain  Christ,  or  rather  that  I  might  be 
accepted  by  him  ;  and  so  removed  me  from  the  covenant  of  works  to  the 
covenant  of  grace,  even  that  new  covenant  of  life  alone  by  himself,  who 
paid  so  dear  a  price,  as  to  lay  down  his  own  blood  to  wash,  cleanse  and 
purify  the  soul,  and  to  redeem  both  soul  and  body  to  serve  the  Lord  ;  and 
that  is  now  the  life  I  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  this  faith  causes 
works  of  faith,  or  rather  fruits  that  flow  from  that  root,  so  that  now  love 
hath  constrained  me  to  yield  myself  to  live  to  him,  as  to  a  King  to  rule  me 
by  his  holy  laws  and  commandments,  and  as  to  an  only  Prophet  to  teach 
and  instruct  me,  both  to  know  and  to  do  his  holy  will,  and  as  my  only 
Chief  Priest  to  offer  a  sacrifice  for  me,  which  he  did  even  for  all,  whereby 
my  poor  imperfect  prayers  and  all  other  services  became  accepted  of  the 
Father  ;  and  this  love,  shed  abroad  in  my  heart,  wrought  in  me  a  restless 
desire  to  know  his  will,  that  I  might  shew  forth  the  praises  and  glory  of 
him,  that  had  called  me  by  his  grace. 

As  the  sentiments  of  the  ancient  Baptists  in  this  country 
have  been  grossly  misrepresented,  and  as  Mr.  Holmes  was 
no  small  sufferer  in  that  cause,  I  thought  it  expedient  to  let 
the  reader  thus  far  hear  him  speak  for  himself,  and  tell  his 
own  experience  and  ideas  about  the  nature  of  true  religion. 
When  he  first  came  to  this  land  he  joined  with  the  church 
in  Salem,  with  whom  he  walked  six  or  seven  years  ;  and 
then  about  the  year  1645  was  dismissed  to  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Seaconck  (Rehoboth)  newly  settled  there, 
under  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Samuel  Newman.  He  continued 
in  that  relation  about  four  years,  till  an  unrighteous  act,  as 
he  judged,  of  the  minister  and  part  of  the  church,  for  which 
they  would  not  give  satisfaction,  caused  Mr.  Holmes  and 
several  more  to  withdraw,  and  set  up  a  meeting  by  them- 
selves. And  being  convinced  that  the  Baptists'  way  was 
right,  a  number  of  them  were  baptized,  I  suppose  by  the 
aforesaid  Mr.  Clarke,  for  they  joined  to  his  church.  After 
this  Mr.  Newman  pronounced  a  sentence  of  ex-communica- 
tion against  Mr.  Holmes,  upon  which  he  and  two  more  were 
presented  to  the  General  Court  at  Plymouth,  June  4,  1650, 
where  they  met  with  four  petitions  against  them,  one  from 


[1651.]        COMPLAINT  AGAINST  MR.  HOLMES  AND  OTHERS.  177 

their  own  town  with  thirty-five  hands  to  it,  one  from  the 
church  at  Taunton,  one  from  all  the  ministers  but  two  in 
Plymouth  colony,  and  a  fourth  from  the  Court  at  Boston, 
under  their  secretary's  hand,  urging  Plymouth  rulers  to  sup- 
press them  speedily.1 

Here  we  may  observe  the  great  difference  between  our 
Plymouth  fathers,  and  the  Massachusetts.  With  all  these 
stimulants  to  severity,  the  Court  of  Plymouth  only  charged 
them  to  desist  from  their  practice,  which  others  had  taken 
such  offence  at,  and  one  of  them  yieldiug  thereto,  the  others, 
viz.,  Obadiah  Holmes  and  Joseph  Tory,  were  bound  over 
to  the  next  October  Court,  but  were  not  so  much  as  bound 
to  their  good  behavior,  nor  any  other  sureties  required,  only 
they  were  bound  "  one  for  another  in  the  sum  of  ten  pounds 
apiece,"  for  their  appearance  at  said  Court. 

At  a  General  Court  holden  at  New  Plymouth  the  second  of  October, 
1650,  before  William  Bradford,  gentleman,  Governor,  Thomas  Prince, 
William  Collyare,  Captain  Miles  Standish,  Timothy  Hetherly,  William 
Thomas,  John  Alden,  gentlemen,  Assistants,    [and  a  House  of  Deputies.] 

Presentment  by  the  Grand  Inquest. 

October  2d,  1650. 
Wee  whose  names  are  heer  underwritten,  being  the  grand  iuquest,  doe 
present  to  this  Court  John  Hazell,  Mr.  Edward  Smith  and  his  wife,  Obadiah 
Holmes,  Joseph  Tory  and  his  wife,  and  the  wife  of  James  Mann,  William 
Deuell  and  his  wife,  of  the  towne  of  Rehoboth,  for  the  continuing  of  a 
meeting  uppon  the  Lord's-day  from  house  to  house,  contrary  to  the  order 
of  this  Court,  enacted  June  12,  1650. 

Thomas  Robinson, 

Henry  Tomson,   [&c,  to  the  number  of  14.2] 

This  is  an  exact  copy  of  their  presentment,  but  no  sen- 
tence appears  upon  record  against  them.     How  different  is 

Clarke's  Narratives,  pp.  18,  25,  [46,  53,  54.]     Plymouth  Records.— B. 

The  figures  in  brackets  appended  to  the  references  to  Clarke's  Narrative  on  this 
page  and  those  that  follow,  refer  to  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  fourth  series, 
Vol.  II,  where  the  Narrative  is  published. — Ed. 

2Plymouth  Records.  — B. 

In  the  published  Records  the  second  of  these  names  is  Henry  Sampson. — Ed. 
12 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

this  from  the  actings  of  Boston  Court  the  next  year  !a  For 
on  July  19,  1651,  Messrs.  Clarke,  Holmes  and  Crandal, 
"  being  the  representatives  of  the  church  in  Newport,  upon 
the  request  of  William  Witter,  of  Lynn,  arrived  there,  he 
being  a  brother  in  the  church,  who,  by  reason  of  his  advanc- 
ed age,  could  not  undertake  so  great  a  journey  as  to  visit 
the  church."2  lie  lived  about  two  miles  out  of  town,  and 
the  next  being  the  Lord's  day  they  concluded  to  spend  it  in 
religious  worship  at  his  house.     Mr.  Clarke  says  : — 

Finding  by  sad  experience,  that  the  hour  of  temptation  spoken  of  was 
coming  upon  all  the  world  (in  a  more  eminent  way)  to  try  them  that  are  upon 
the  earth,  I  fell  upon  the  consideration  of  that  [word  of]  promise,  made 
to  those  that  keep  the  word  of  his  patience,  which  present  thoughts,  while 
in  conscience  toward  God,  and  good  will  unto  his  saints,  I  was  imparting 
to  my  companions  in  the  house  where  I  lodged,  and  to  four  or  five  strangers 
that  came  in  unexpected  after  I  had  begun,  opening  and  proving  what  is 
meant  by  the  hour  of  temptation,  what  by  the  word  of  his  patience,  and 
their  keeping  it,  and  how  he  that  hath  the  key  of  David  (being  the  promi- 
ser)  will  keep  those  that  keep  the  word  of  his  patience  from  the  hour  of 
temptation  ;  while,  I  say,  I  was  yet  speaking,  there  comes  into  the  house 
where  we  were  two  constables,  who,  with  their  clamorous  tongues,  made 
an  interruption  in  my  discourse,  and  more  uncivilly  disturbed  us  than  the 
pursuivants  of  the  old  English  bishops  were  wont  to  do,  telling  us  that  they 
were  come  with  authority  from  the  magistrate  to  apprehend  us.  I  then 
desired  to  see  the  authority  by  which  they  thus  proceeded,  whereupon  they 
plucked  forth  their  warrant,  and  one  of  them  with  a  trembling  hand  (as 
conscious  he  might  have  been  better  employed)  read  it  to  us  ;  the  substance 
whereof  wa3  as  followeth  : — 

"  By  virtue  hereof,  you  are  required  to  go  to  the  house  of  William  Wit- 
ter, and  so  to  search  from  house  to  house,  for  certain  erroneous  persons, 
being  strangers,  and  them  to  apprehend,,  and  in  safe  custody  to  keep,  and  to- 
morrow morning  by  eight  o'clock  [of  the  clock]  to  bring  before  me, 

RouEiiT  Bridges." 

'Mr.  Hazel  WTOte  to  his  cousin  Hubbard,  of  Newport,  June  23,  1C51,  that  they 
were  then  threatened  with  a  fine  of  ten  shillings  a  day  for  every  person  who  set  up 
any  other  meeting,  and  that  their  absenee  from  the  town  meeting  the  day  before 
should  prove  costly.  Samuel  Hubbard's  Manuscript.  Mr.  Hazel  died  soon  after, 
near  Boston.  The  rest  of  them  moved  to  Newport,  when1  I  find  that  Edward  Smith, 
Joseph  Torry,  James  Man  and  William  Deuell,  were  admitted  freemen,  May  17, 
1658.  Smith  was  afterward  a  magistrate,  and  Torry  many  years  Secretary  of  the 
colony,  as  well  as  a  teacher  in  Mr.  Clarke's  church,  in  which  Mr.  Holmes  also 
ministered  for  many  years. 

'Newport  church  papers. 


[1651.]  CLARKE,  HOLMES  AND  (RANDAL  ARRESTED.  179 

When  he  had  read  the  warrant,  I  told  them,  Friends,  there  shall  not  be, 
I  trust,  the  least  appearance  of  a  resisting  of  that  authority  by  which  you 
come  unto  us  :  yet  I  tell  you,  that  by  virtue  hereof  you  are  not  so  strictly 
tied,  but  if  you  please  you  may  suffer  us  to  make  an  end  of  what  we  have 
begun,  so  may  you  be  witnesses  either  to  or  against  the  faith  and  order 
which  we  hold.     To  which  they  answered"   they  could  not  ;  then  said    we, 

Notwithstanding  the  warrant,  or  anything  therein  contained,  you  may 

They  apprehended  us,  and  carried  us  away  to  the  ale-house  or  ordinary, 
where  at  [after]  dinner  one  of  them  said  unto  us,  Gentlemen,  if  you  be  free 
I  will  carry  you  to  the  meeting ;  to  whom  it  was  replied,  Friend,  had  we 
been  free  thereunto  we  had  prevented  all  this,  nevertheless  we  are  in  thy 
hand  ;  and  if  thou  wilt  carry  us  to  the  meeting,  thither  will  we  go  ;  to 
which  he  answered,  Then  will  I  carry  you  to  the  meeting ;  to  this  we 
replied,  If  thou  forcest  us  unto  your  assembly,  then  shall  we  be  constrained 
to  declare  ourselves,  that  we  cannot  hold  communion  with  them.  The 
constable  answered,  that  is  nothing  to  me  ;  I  have  not  power  to  command 
you  to  speak  when  you  come  there,  or  to  be  silent.  To  this  I  again  replied, 
[Friend,  kuow  a  little  further  ;]  since  we  have  heard  the  word  of  salvation  by 
Jesus  Christ,  we  have  been  taught,  as  those  that  first  trusted  in  Christ,  to 
be  obedient  unto  him  both  by  word  and  deed  ;  wherefore  if  we  be  forced 
to  your  meeting,  we  shall  declare  our  dissent  from  you  both  by  word  and 
gesture.  After  all  this,  when  he  had  consulted  with  the  man  of  the  house, 
he  told  us  he  would  carry  us  to  the  meeting  ;  so  to  their  meeting  we  were 
brought,  while  they  were  at  their  prayers,  and  uncovered  ;  and  at  my  first 
stepping  over  the  threshold  I  unveiled  myself,  civily  saluted  them,  and 
turned  into  the  seat  I  was  appointed  to,  put  on  my  hat  again,  and  sat  down, 
open  my  book,  and  fell  to  reading.  [Hereupon]  Mr.  Bridges  being  troubled, 
commanded  the  constable  to  pluck  off  our  hats,  which  he  did,  and  where 
he  laid  mine  there  I  let  it  lie,  until  their  prayers,  singing,  and  preaching 
was  over  ;  after  this  I  stood  up,  and  uttered  myself  in  these  words  follow- 
ing : — I  desire  as  a  stranger  [if  I  may]  to  propose  a  few  things  to  this 
congregation,  hoping  in  the  proposal  thereof  I  shall  commend  myself  to 
your  consciences,  to  be  guided  by  that  wisdom  that  is  from  above,  which 
being  pure,  is  also  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be  entreated  ;  and  there- 
with [I]  made  a  stop,  expecting  if  the  Prince  of  peace  had  been  among 
them,  I  should  have  had  a  suitable  answer  of  peace  from  them ^heir 

"•Supplying  the  words  here  omitted,  the  Narrative  reads  as  follows: — "But  no 
other  voice  I  heard  but  of  their  pastor,  as  he's  called,  and  their  magistrate.  Their 
pastor  answered  by  way  of  query  whether  I  was  a  member  of  a  church.  Before  I 
could  give  an  answer.  Air.  Bridges  spoke,  saying,  '  If  the  congregation  please 
to  give  you  leave,  well;  if  not,  I  shall  require  you  silence,  for,'  said  he,  'we  will 
have  no  objections,  &c.' "  These  last  words,  then,  were  spoken  by  the  magistrate, 
and  not,  as  represented  above,  by  the  pastor.— Ed. 


180  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

pastor  answered,  We  Will  have  no  objections  against  what  is  delivered. 
To  which  I  answered,  I  am  not  about  at  present  to  make  objections  against 
what  \b  deliTered,  but  as  by  my  gesture  at  my  coming  into  your  assembly, 
I  declared  my  dissent  from  you,  so  lest  that  should  prove  offensive  unto 
some  whom  I  would  not  offend,  I  would  now  by  word  of  mouth  declare 
the  grounds,  which  are  these  : — First,  from  the  consideration  we  are  stran- 
gers each  to  other,  and  so  strangers  to  each  other's  inward  standing  with 
respect  to  God,  and  so  cannot  conjoin  and  act  in  faith,  and  what  is  not  of 
faith  is  sin.  ^nd  in  the  second  place,  I  could  not  judge  that  you  are  gath- 
ered together,  and  walk  according  to  the  visible  order  of  our  Lord  ;  which 
when  I  had  declared,  Mr.  Bridges  told  me,  I  had  done,  and  spoke  that  for 
which  I  must  answer,  and  so  commanded  [me]  silence.  When  their 
meeting  was  done,  the  officers  carried  us  again  to  the  ordinary,  where 
beiug  watched  over  that  night,  as  thieves  and  robbers,  we  were  the  next 
morning  carried  before  Mr.  Bridges,  who  made  our  mittimus,  and  sent  us 
to  the  prison  at  Boston.1     The  words  of  the  mittimus  are  these  : — 

"  To  the  Keeper  of  the  Prison  at  Boston : 

By  virtue  hereof,  you  are  required  to  take  into  your  custody  from  the 
constable  of  Lynn,  or  his  deputy,  the  bodies  of  John  Clarke,  Obadiah 
Holmes  and  John  Crandal,  and  them  to  keep  until  the  next  County  Court 
to  be  held  at  Boston,  that  they  may  then  and  there  answer  to  such  com- 
plaints as  may  be  alleged  against  them ;  for  being  taken  by  a  [the] 
constable  at  a  private  meeting  at  Lynn,  upon  the  Lord's  day,  exercising 
among  themselves,  to  whom  divers  of  the  town  repaired,  and  joined  with 
them,  and  that  in  the  time  of  the  public  exercise  of  the  worship  of  God  ; 
as  also  for  offensively  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  congregation,  at  their 
coming  into  the  public  meeting  in  the  time  of  prayer  in  the  afternoon,  and 
for  saying  and  manifesting  that  the  church  in  [of]  Lynn  was  not  consti- 
tuted according  to  the  order  of  our  Lord,  and  for  such  other  things  as  shall 
be  alleged  against  them,  concerning  their  seducing  and  drawing  [aside  of] 
others  after  their  erroneous  judgments  and  practices,  and  for  suspicion  of 
having  their  hands  in  [the]  re-baptizing  of  one  or  more  among  us,  as  also 
for  neglecting  or  refusing  to  put  [give]  in  sufficient  security  for  their  ap- 
pearance at  the  said  Court.     Hereof  fail  not  at  your  peril. 

22,  5,  51.  Robert   Bridges."2 

On  July  31,  Mr.  Clarke  was  brought  before  the  Court, 
and  fined  twenty  pounds,  or  to  be  well  whipped.  The  crimes 
he  was  charged  with,  beside  what  is  above  mentioned,  were, 

'It  appears  that  somehow  they  were  permitted  to  meet  again  on  Monday,  and  were 
sent  to  prison  on  Tuesday. 
'Clarke's  Narrative,  pp.  1—4.     [27—31.] 


L1651.]  CLARKE,  HOLMES  AND  CRAXDAL  ARRESTED.  181 

that  he  met  again  the  next  day  after  his  contempt,  as  they 
call  it,  of  their  public  worship,  :'  at  the  house  of  Witter, 
and  in  contempt  of  authority,  being  then  in  the  custody  of 
the  law,  did  there  administer  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
supper  to  one  excommunicated  person,  to  another  under  ad- 
monition, and  to  a  third  that  was  an  inhabitant  of  Lynu,  and 
not  in  fellowship  with  any  church,  and  yet  upon  answer  in 
open  Court  did  affirm,  that  he  never  re-baptized  any,"  &C.1 
Says  Mr.  Clarke  : — 

None  were  able  to  turn  to  the  law  of  God  or  man  by  which  we  were 
condemned.  At  length  the  Governor  stepped  up,  and  told  us  we  had  denied 
infants'  baptism,  and  being  somewhat  transported,  told  me,  I  had  deserved 
death,  and  said  he  would  not  have  such  trash  brought  into  their  jurisdic- 
tion. Moreover  he  said,  "  You  go  up  and  down,  and  secretly  insinuate 
into  those  that  are  weak,  but  you  cannot  maintain  it  before  our  ministers. 
You  may  try  and  dispute  with  them." 

To  this  I  had  much  to  reply,  but  he  commanded  the  gaol- 
er to  take  us  away.  So  the  next  morning  having  so  fair  an 
opportunity,  I  made  a  motion  to  the  Court  in  these  words 
following : — 

To  the  honorable  [honored]  Court  assembled  at  Boston  : 

Whereas  it  pleased  this  honored  Court  yesterday  to  condemn  the  faith 
and  order  which  I  hold  and  practice  ;  and  after  you  had  passed  your  sen- 
tence upon  me  for  it,  were  pleased  to  express,  I  could  not  maintain  the 
same  against  your  ministers,  and  thereupon  publicly  proffered  me  a  dispute 
with  them  ;  be  pleased  by  these  few  lines  to  understand,  I  readily  accept 
it,  and  therefore  desire  you  would  appoint  the  time  when,  and  the  person 
with  whom,  in  that  public  place  where  I  was  condemned,  T  might  with 
freedom,  and  without  molestation  of  the  civil  power,  dispute  that  point 
publicly,  where  I  doubt  not  by  the  strength  of  Christ  to  make  it  good  out 
of  his  last  Will  and  Testament,  unto  which  nothing  is  to  be  added,  nor 
from  which  nothing  is  to  be  diminished.  Thus  desiring  the  Father  of  lights 
to  shine  forth,  and  by  his  power  to  expel  the  darkness,  I  remain  your  well- 
wisher,  John  Clarke. 
From  the  prison,  this  1,  6,  51. 

This  motion,  if  granted,  I  desire  might  be  subscribed  by 
their  Secretary's  hand,  as  an  act  of  the  same  Court  by  which 
we  were  condemned."2 

deal's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I,  p.  30.      2Clarke's  Narrative,  p.  7,  [33,  3-t.] 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

This  was  presented,  and  after  much  ado,  one  of  the  mag- 
istrates informed  Mr.  Clarke,  that  a  disputation  was  granted 
to  be  the  next  week  ;  but  on  Monday  their  ministers  came 
together  and  made  no  small  stir  about  the  matter,  and  near 
the  close  of  the  day  the  magistrates  sent  for  Mr.  Clarke  into 
their  chamber,  and  queried  with  him  about  the  matter,  and 
demanded  of  him  whether  he  would  dispute  upon  the  things 
contained  in  his  sentence,  and  maintain  his  practice;  "for" 
said  they,  "  the  Court  sentenced  you  not  for  your  judgment 
and  conscience,  but  for  matter  of  fact  and  practice."  To 
which,  says  Mr.  Clarke,  I  replied : — 

You  say  the  Court  condemned  me  for  matter  of  fact  and  practice.  Be 
it  so.  I  say  that  matter  of  fact  and .  practice  was  but  the  manifestation  of 
my  judgment  and  conscience.  Audi  make  account,  that  man  is  void  of 
judgment  and  conscience,  with  respect  unto  God,  that  hath  not  a  fact  and 
practice  suitable  thereunto.  ...  If  the  faith  and  order  which  I  profess  do 
stand  by  the  word  of  God,  then  the  faith  and  order  which  you  profess  must 
needs  fall  to  the  ground  ;  and  if  the  way  you  walk  in  remain,  then  the  way 
that  I  walk  in  must  vanish  away.  They  cannot  both  stand  together.  To 
this  they  seemed  to  assent ;  therefore  I  told  them,  that  if  they  please  to 
grant  the  motion  under  the  Secretary's  hand,  I  would  draw  up  the  faith 
and  order  which  I  hold,  as  the  sum  of  that  I  did  deliver  in  open  Court,  in 
[into]  three  or  four  conclusions,  which  conclusions  I  will  stand  by  and 
defeud,  uutil  he  whom  you  shall  appoint  shall  by  the  word  of  God  remove 
me  from  them.  In  case  he  shall  remove  me  from  them,  then  the  disputa- 
tion is  at  end  ;  but  if  not,  then  I  desire  like  liberty  by  the  word  of  God  to 
oppose  the  faith  and  order  which  he  and  you  profess,  thereby  to  try  whether 
I  may  be  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  to  remove  you  from  the  same. 
They  told  me  the  motion  was  very  fair,  and  the  way  like  unto  a  disputant, 
.  ...saying,  Because  the  matter  is  weighty,  acd  we  desire  that  what  can, 
may  be  spoken,  when  the  disputation  shall   be,  therefore  would  we    take  a 

longer  time So  I  returned   with    my  keeper  to  prison  again,  drew  up 

the  conclusions,  which  I  was  resolved  through  the  strength  of  Christ  to 
stand  in  defence  of,  and  through  t lie  importunity  of  one  of  the  magistrates, 
the  next  morning  very  early  I  shewed  them  to  him,  having  a  promise  I 
should  have  my  motion  for  a  dispute  granted,  under  the  Secretary's  hand. 
The  conclusions  were  as  followeth  : — 

The  testimony  of  .John  Clarke,  a  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ  at  Boston,  in 
behalf  of  my  Lord,  and  of  his  people,  is  as  followeth  : — 

1.  I  testify  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom   God  raised  from  the  dead,  is 


[1651.]  CLARKE'S  CONFESSION  OF  FAITH.  183 

made  both  Lord  and  Christ ;  this  Jesus  I  say  is  the  Christ,  ia  English,  the 
Anointed  One  ;  hath  a  name  above  every  name  ;  he  is  the  Anointed  Priest, 
none  to  or  with  him  in  point  of  atonement ;  the  Anointed  Prophet,  none  to 
him  in  point  of  instruction  ;  the  Anointed  Kiug,  who  is  gone  unto  his 
Father,  for  his  glorious  kingdom,  and  shall  ere  long  return  again  ;  and  that 
this  Jesus  Christ  is  also  the  Lord  ;  none  to  or  with  him  by  way  of  com- 
manding and  ordering,  with  respect  to  the  worship  of  God,  the  household 
of  faith,  which  being  purchased  with  his  blood  as  Priest,  instructed  and 
nourished  by  his  spirit  as  Prophet,  do  wait  in  his  appointments  as  the 
Lord,  in  hope  of  that  glorious  kingdom  which  shall  ere  long  appear.1 

2.  I  testify  that  baptism,  or  dipping  in  water,  is  one  of  the  command- 
ments of  this  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  a  visible  believer  or  disciple  of 
Christ  Jesus  (that  is  one  that  manifesteth  repentance  towards  God,  and 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ)  is  the  only  person  that  is  to  be  baptized,  or  dipped 
with  that  visible  baptism,  or  dipping  of  Jesus  Christ  in  water,  and  also 
that  visible  person  that  is  to  walk  in  that  visible  order  of  his  house,  and 
so  to  wait  for  his  coming  the  second  time,  in  the  form  of  a  Lord  and  King, 
with  his  glorious  kingdom  according  to  promise,  and  for  his  sending  down 
in  the  time  of  his  absence  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  and 
all  this  according  to  the  last  Will  and  Testament  of  that  living  Lord,  whose 
will  is  not  to  be  added  to  or  taken  from.2 

*To  confirm  this  article  Mr.  Clarke  says,  ';  If  the  nature  of  the  commanding  and 
ordering  power,  that  suits  both  with  the  worship,  and  witli  the  worshippers,  which 
the  Father  of  Spirits  seeks  for,  be  [also]  considered,  which  is  not  a  law  of  a  carnal 
commandment,  seconded  with  carnal  weapons,  or  an  arm  of  fiesh ;  but  a  spiritual 
law,  as  the  apostle  calls  it,  Rom.  viii.,  '  a  law  of  the  spirit  of  life  from  Christ 
Jesus,'  spoken  unto,  or  rather  written  in  the  heart  of  a  Christian  by  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  by  reason  whereof  he  obeys  from  the  heart  readily,  willingly  and  cheerfully, 
that  form  of  doctrine  which  is  engraven  and  laid  up  therein ;  Heb.  viii.  10,  II  Cor. 
iii.  3,  Rom.  vi.  17;  If  this  I  say  be  considered,  that  the  worship  is  spiritual,  such 
as  must  begin  in,  spring  up  and  rise  from,  the  heart  and  spirit,  and  so  be  directed  to 
the  Father  of  Spirits,  and  so  the  commanding  power  that  suits  herewith  must  speak 
to  the  heart  and  spirit  of  the  man,  then  there  is  no  Lord  in  this  matter  to  Christ 
Jesus,  who  speaks  to  the  heart  and  spirit,  and  his  words  are  as  commands  from  the 
head  to  the  members,  which  convey  [together]  spirit  and  life  to  obey  them,  by  rea- 
son of  which  his  commands  are  riot  grievous,  for  where  the  'Spirit  of  the  Lord  is 
there  is  liberty;  &c.  II  Cor.  iii.  17,  IS."     pp.  48,  49,  [81.] 

2To  confirm  the  first  part  of  this  article  Mr.  Clarke  says,  ';  Although  there  be  fre 
quent  mention  made  of  that  appointment  of  Christ  in  his  last  Will  and  Testament, 
yet  it  is  never  expressed  by  the  word  that  may  be  rendered  rantism,  or  sprinkling, 
but  by  the  word  that  is  rendered  baptism,  or  dipping;"  to  which  he  adds  many 
proofs,  pp.  50 — 52,  [82.]  The  other  part,  which  concerns  the  subjects  of  baptism, 
he  confirms  by  the  apostles'  commission,  and  by  their  practice,  and  notes  in  par- 
ticular, that  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  they  baptized  none  but  such  as  were  called, 
gladly  received  his  word,  were  added  and  continued  in  the  apostles'  doctrine  and 
fellowship,  $c.  p.  54,  [87.] 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

3.  I  testify  or  witness,  that  every  such  believer  in  Christ  Jesus,  that 
waiteth  for  his  appearing,  may  in  point  of  liberty,  yea  ought  in  point  of 
duty,  to  improve  that  talent  his  Lord  hath  given  unto  him,  and  in  the  con- 
gregation may  either  ask  for  information  to  himself;  or  if  he  cau,  may 
speak  by  way  of  prophecy  for  the  edification,  exhortation  and  comfort  of 
the  whole  ;  and  out  of  the  congregation  at  all  times,  upon  all  occasions, 
and  in  all  places,  as  far  as  the  jurisdiction  of  his  Lord  extends,  may,  yea 
ought  to  walk  as  a  child  of  light,  justifying  wisdom  with  his  ways,  and 
reproviug  folly,  with  the  unfruitful  works  thereof,  provided  all  this  be 
shown  out  of  a  good  conversation,  as  James  speaks,  with  meekness  of 
wisdom. 

4.  I  testify  that  no  such  believer  or  servant  of  Christ  Jesus  hath  [any] 
liberty,  much  less  authority,  from  his  Lord,  to  smite  his  fellow  servant, 
nor  yet  with  outward  force,  or  arm  of  flesh  to  constrain,  or  restrain  his 
conscience,  no  nor  yet  his  outward  man  for  conscience  sake,  or  worship  of 
his  God,  where  injury  is  not  offered  to  the  person,  name  or  estate  of  others, 
every  man  being  such  as  shall  appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ, 
and  must  give  an  account  of  himself  to  God,  and  therefore  ought  to  be  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind  for  what  he  undertakes,  because  he  that  doubt- 
eth  is  damned  if  he  eat,  and  so  also  if  he  act,  because  he  doth  not  eat  or 
act  in  faith,  and  what  is  not  of  faith  is  sin.1 

When  Mr.  Clarke  had  thus  freely  given  them  his  testi- 
mony, instead  of  openly  and  fairly  meeting  him  as  they  had 
talked  of,  to  vindicate  their  proceedings,  the  next  news  that 
he  hears  from  them  is  this  : — 

To  the  Keeper  of  the  Prison  : 

By  virtue  hereof  you  are  to  release  and  set  at  liberty  the  body  of  Mr. 
John  Clarke,  and  this  shall  be  your  discharge  for  so  doiug.  Given  under 
my  hand  the  11th  of  the  Gth  month,  1G51. 

William  Hibbins.8 

Great  expectations  had  been  raised  in  the  country  of  hear- 
ing these  points  disputed,  and  Mr.  Clarke  knowing  well  how 
they  would  try  to  turn  all  the  blame  upon  him,  immediately 
drew  up  the  following  address  : — 

Whereas  through  the  indulgence  of  tender  hearted  friends,  without  my 
consent,  and  contrary  to  my  judgment,  the  sentence   and  condemnation  of 

'Narrative,  pp.  (»,  10,  [34—37.] 

"Narrative,  p.  10,  L:''~-J     Four  years  after,  llibbins's  wife  was  hanged  for  a  witch. 


[1651.]  DISPUTATION  WITH  CLAEKE  PROPOSED.  185 

the  Court  at  Boston  (as  is  reported)  have  been  fully  satisfied  on  my  behalf, 
and  thereupon  a  warrant'hath  been  procured,  by  which  I  am  secluded  the 
place  of  my  imprisonment,  by  reason  whereof  I  see  no  other  call  for  pres- 
ent but  to  my  habitation,  and  to  those  near  relations  which  God  hath  given 
me  there  ;  yet  lest  the  cause  should  hereby  suffer,  which  I  profess  is 
Christ's,  I  would  hereby  signify,  that  if  yet  it  shall  please  the  honored 
magistrates,  or  General  Court  of  this  colony,  to  grant  my  former  request 
under  their  Secretary's  hand,  I  shall  cheerfully  embrace  it,  aud  upon  your 
motion  shall,  through  the  help  of  God,  come  from  the  island  to  attend  it. 
And  hereunto  I  have  subscribed  my  name. 

11th,  6,  51.  John  Clarke. 

This  was  the  next  morning  sent  to  the  magistrates,  who 
were  met  at  the  Commencement  at  Cambridge,  upon  which 
it  was  noised  abroad  that  the  motion  was  granted,  and  that 
Mr.  Cotton  was  to  be  the  man;  "a  man,"  says  Mr.  Clarke, 
"  best  of  all  approved  of  by  myself  for  that  same  purpose, 
he  being  the  inventor  and  supporter  of  that  way  in  these 
parts  wherein  they  walk."  But  a  little  before  their  lecture 
the  next  Thursday,  he  received  the  following  paper : — 

Mr.  John  Clarke  : 

We  conceive  you  have  misrepresented  the  Governor's  speech,  in  saying 
you  were  challenged  to  dispute  with  some  of  our  elders,  whereas  it  was 
plainly  expressed,  that  if  you  would  confer  with  any  of  them,  they  were 
able  to  satisfy  you,  neither  were  you  able  to  maintain  your  practice  to  them 
by  the  word  of  God,  all  which  we  [was]  intended  for  your  information  and 
conviction  privately  ;  neither  were  you  enjoined  to  what  you  were  then 
[then  were]  counselled  unto  ;  nevertheless  if  you  are  forward  to  dispute, 
and  that  you  will  move  it  yourself  to  the  Court,  or  magistrates  about  Bos- 
ton, we  shall  take  order  to  appoint  one  who  will  be  ready  to  answer  your 
motiou,  you  keeping  close  to  the  questions  to  be  propounded  by  yourself; 
and  a  moderator  shall  be  appointed  also  to  attend  upon  that  service  ;  and 
whereas  you  desire  you  might  be  free  in  your  dispute,  keeping  close  to  the 
points  to  be  disputed  on,  without  incurring  damage  by  the  civil  justice, 
observing  what  hath  been  before  written,  it  is  granted  ;  the  day  may  be 
agreed,  if  you  yield  the  premises. 

John   Endicott,  Governor, 
Thomas  Dudley,  Dep.  Governor, 
Richard  Bellingham, 
William  Hibbins, 
Increase  Nowel." 
11th1  of  the  6th,  1651. 
*It  seems  that  this  should  be  the  12th. 


186  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS    IN    NEW  ENGLAND. 

Says  Mr.  Clarke  : — 

My  answer  followeth  superscribed, 
To  the  honored  Governor  of  the  Massachusetts,  and  the  rest   of  that  hon- 
orable Society,  these  present : 

Worthy  SENATORS: — I  received  a  writing,  subscribed  with  five  of  your 
hands,  by  way  of  answer  to  a  twice  repeated  motion  of  mine  before  you, 
which  was  grounded  as  I  conceive  sufficiently  upon  the  Governor's  words, 
in  open  Court,  which  writing  of  yours  doth  ijo  way  answer  my  expecta- 
tion, nor  yet  that  motion  which  I  made ;  and  whereas,  (waiving  that 
grounded  motion)  you  are  pleased  to  intimate,  that  if  I  were  forward  to 
dispute,  and  would  move  it  myself  to  the  Court,  or  magistrates  about  Bos- 
ton, you  would  appoint  one  to  answer  my  motion,  &c,  be  pleased  to  un- 
derstand, that  although  I  am  not  backward  to  maintain  the  faith  and  order 
of  my  Lord,  the  King  of  saints,  for  which  I  have  been  sentenced  yet  ami 
not  in  such  a  way  so  forward  to  dispute,  or  move  therein,  lest  inconven- 
ience should  thereby  arise  ;  I  shall  rather  once  more  repeat  my  former 
motion,  which  if  it  shall  please  the  honored  General  Court  to  accept,  and 
under  their  Secretary's  hand  shall  grant  a  free  dispute,  without  molestation 
or  interruption,  I  shall  be  [so]  well  satisfied  therewith  ;  that  what  is  past 
I  shall  forget,  and  upon  your  motion  shall  attend  it  ;  thus  desiring  the 
Father  of  mercies  not  to  lay  that  evil  to  your  charge,  I  remain  your  well 
wisher,  John  Clarke.1 

From  Prison  this  14,  6,  51. 

I  have  transcribed  the  whole  of  these  letters  with  great 
care,  to  give  the  reader  a  fair  opportunity  to  judge  for  him- 
self, whether  those  rulers  and  ministers  were  not  afraid  of 
the  light,  though  they  pretended  the  contrary.  For  they 
knew  that  they  had  then  laws  in  force  to  punish  any  man 
who  should  dispute  against  infant  baptism,  as  well  as 
other  of  their  ways,  and  what  they  now  sent  was  no  act  of 
Court,  but  only  a  writing  from  some  of  their  rulers  met  at 
Commencement.  Mr.  Clarke  says,  it  was  in  Mr.  Cotton's 
handwriting.  They  would  thus  fain  have  stopped  Mr. 
Clarke's  mouth,  or  else  have  drawn  him  again  under  the 
lash  of  their  laws.  This  he  says  gave  ground  for  others  to 
conclude,  "that  the  utmost  they  can  say  for  themselves,  and 
to  stop   the   mouth  of  him   that  is  contrary  minded,  lies   in 

Narrative,  pp.  11—13.  [40.] 


[1651.]  CLARKE  AND  CRAXDAL  RELEASED.  187 

the  sword  and  power  of  the  magistrate,  which,  although  it 
be  a  good  ordinance  of  God  in  this  present  evil  world  to  re- 
strain the  oppressor,  and  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free,  and 
so  approved  and  owned  by  Christ  and  all  true  Christians,  in 
case  of  wrong  and  wicked  lewdness,  ....  yet  was  it  never 
appointed  by  Christ  (to  whom  all  power,  not  only  in  earth, 
but  also  in  heaven,  is  committed,  and  by  whom  all  earthly 
powers  are  to  be  judged  ;  I  say  it  was  never  appointed  by 
Christ)  to  inform  and  rectify  the  minds  and  consciences  of 
men  in  the  worship  of  God,  in  that  great  mystery  of  godli- 
ness, and  in  those  mystical  matters  concerning  the  kingdom 
of  Christ,  that  being  a  matter  that  only  belongs  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  promise,  and  to  the  sword  of  that  Spirit,  which  is 
the  word  (not  of  man,  but)  of  God,  to  effect,  much  less  to 
conform  their  outward  man  contrary  to  their  minds  and  con- 
sciences in  the  worship  of  God ;  and  therefore  that  sword 
and  power  ought  to  take  heed  how  they  meddle  herein,  lest 
they  attempt  to  take  the  place  and  enter  upon  the  throne 
and  kingdom  of  Christ."1 

Mr.  Crandal,  who  was  fined  five  pounds,  only  for  being 
with  the  others,  was  released  upon  promise  of  appearing  at 
their  next  Court  (though  they  did  not  let  him  know  when  it 
was,  till  it  was  over,  and  they  exacted  the  fine  of  the  keeper) 
and  he  with  Mr.  Clarke  returned  home.  Mr.  Holmes  was 
kept  in  prison  till  their  Court  met  in  the  beginning  of  Sep- 
tember, and  then,  after  their  public  lecture  in  Boston,  the 
sentence  of  Court  wras  executed  upon  him  ;  a  particular  ac- 
count of  which  we  have  written  with  his  own  hand,  as 
follows : — 

Unto  the  well  beloved  brethren,  John  Spilsbury,  William  Kiffen,  and  the 
rest  that  in  London  stand  fast  in  the  faith,  and  continue  to  walk  stead- 
fastly in  that  order  of  the  gospel  which  was  once  delivered  unto  the  saints 
by  Jesus  Christ ;  Obadiah  Holmes,  an  unworthy  witness  that  Jesus  is  the 
Lord, and  of  late  a  prisoner  for  Jesus'  sake  at  Boston,  sendeth  greeting  : 

Dearly  Beloved  and  longed  after  : — My  heart's  desire  is  to  hear 
from  you,  and  to  hear  that  you  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our 

Narrative,  pp.  13,  U.  [41.] 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  your  love  to  him,  and  one 
unto  another,  as  he  hath  given  commandment,  aboundetli.  would  be 
the  very  joy  and  great  rejoicing  of  my  soul  and  spirit.  Had  I  not  been 
prevented  by  my  beloved  brethren  of  Providence,  who  have  wrote  unto 
you,  wherein  you  have  my  mind  at  large  ;  and  also  by  our  beloved  brother 
Clarke,  of  Rhode  Island,  who  may,  if  God  permit,  see  you,  and  speak  with 
you  mouth  to  mouth,  I  had  here  declared  myself  in  that  matter,  but  now 
I  forbear ;  and  because  I  have  an  experimental  knowledge  in  myself,  that 
in  members  of  the  same  body,  while  it  stands  in  union  with  the  head,  there 
is  a  sympathizing  spirit,  which  passeth  through,  and  also  remaiueth  in  each 
particular,  so  that  one  member  can  neither  mourn  nor  rejoice,  but  all  the 
members  are  ready  to  mourn  and  rejoice  with  it ;  I  shall  the  rather  impart 
unto  you  some  dealings  which  I  have  had  therein  from  the  sons  of  men, 
and  the  gracious  supports  which  I  have  had  from  the  Son  of  God,  my 
Lord  and  yours,  that  so  like  members  you  might  rejoice  with  me,  and 
might  be  encouraged,  by  the  same  experiment  of  his  tender  mercies,  to 
fear  none  of  those  things  which  you  shall  suffer  for  Jesus'  sake.  It  pleased 
the  Father  of  lights,  after  a  long  continuance  of  mine  in  death  and  dark- 
ness, to  cause  life  and  immortality  to  be  brought  to  light  in  my  soul,  and 
also  to  cause  me  to  see  that  this  life  was  by  the  death  of  his  Son,  in  that 
hour  and  power  of  darkness  procured,  which  wrought  in  my  heart  a  rest- 
less desire  to  know  what  the  Lord,  who  had  so  dearly  bought  me,  would 
have  me  to  do,  and  finding  that  it  was  his  last  will  (to  which  none  is  to  add, 
and  from  which  none  is  to  detract,)  that  they  which  had  faith  in  his  death 
for  life,  should  yield  up  themselves  to  hold  forth  a  lively  consimilitude  or 
likeness  unto  his  death,  burial  and  resurrection,  by  that  ordinance  of  bap- 
tism, I  readily  yielded  thereto,  being  by  love  constrained  to  follow  the  [that] 
Lamb  (that  takes  away  the  sins  of  the  world)  whithersoever  he  goes.  I 
had  no  sooner  separated  from  their  assemblies,  and  from  communion  with 
them  in  their  worship  of  God,  and  thus  visibly  put  on  Christ,  being  resolv- 
ed alone  to  attend  upon  him,  and  to  submit  to  his  will,  but  immediately 
the  adversary  cast  out  a  flood  against  us,  aud  stirred  up  the  spirits  of  men 
to  present  myself  and  two  more  to  Plymouth  Court,  where  we  met  with 
four  petitions  against  our  whole  company  to  take  some  speedy  course  to 
suppress  us  ;  one  from  our  own  plantation,  with  thirty-live  hands  to  it; 
one  from  the  church,  as  they  call  it,  at  Tauntou  ;  one  from  all  the  minis- 
ters in  our  colony,  except  two,  if  I  mistake  not,  and  one  from  the  Court 
at  Boston,  in  the  Massachusetts,  under  their  Secretary's  hand;  whereupon 
the  Court  straitly  charged  us  to  desist,  and  neither  to  ordain  officers,  nor 
to  baptize,  nor  to  break  bread  together,  nor  yet  to  meet  upon  the  first  day 
of  the  week;  and  having  received  these  strait  charges,  one  of  the  three 
discovers  the  sandy  foundation  upon  which  he  stood,  who,  when  the  flood 
came  and  the   wind  blew,    fell,   yet  it   pleased  the  Father  of  mercies    (to 


[1651.]  OBADIAH  HOLMES  SENTENCED.  189 

whom  be  the  praise)  to  give  us  strength  to  stand,  and  to  tell  them  it  was 
better  to  obey  God  [rather]  than  man  ;  and  such  was  the  grace  of  our  God 
to  us-ward,  that  though  we  were  had  from  Court  to  Court,  yet  were  we 
firmly  resolved  to  keep  close  to  the  rule,  and  to  obey  the  voice  of  our 
Lord,  come  what  will  come. 

Not  long  after  these  troubles  I  came  upon  occasion  of  business  into  the 
colony  of  Massachusetts,  with  two  other  brethren,  as  brother  Clarke  being 
one  of  the  two  can  inform  you,  where  we  three  were  apprehended,  carried 
to  [the  prison  at]  Boston,  and  so  to  the  Court,  and  were  all  sentenced. 
What  they  laid  to  my  charge,  you  may  here  read  in  my  sentence,1  upon 
the  pronouncing  of  which,  as  I  went  from  the  bar,  I  expressed  myself  in 
these  words  : — I  bless  God,  I  am  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  the  name 
of  Jesus.  Whereupon  John  Wilson  (their  pastor,  as  they  call  him)  struck 
me  before  the  judgment-seat,  and  cursed  me,  saying,  The  curse  of  God  or 
Jesus  go  with  thee.2  .  So  we  were  carried  to  the  prison,  where  not  long 
after  I  was  deprived  of  my  two  loving  friends,  at  whose  departure  the  ad- 
versary stepped  in,  took  hold  of  [on]  my  spirit,  and  troubled  me  for  the 
space  of  an   hour,  and  then  the  Lord  came  in,  and  sweetly  relieved  me, 

lrrhe  sentence  of  Obadiah  Holmes,  of  Seaconk,  the  31st  of  the  5th  mouth,  1651. 

Forasmuch  as  you  Obadiah  Holmes,  being  come  into  this  jurisdiction  about  the 
21  of  the  5  month,  did  meet  at  one  William  Witter's  house,  at  Lynn,  and  did  here 
privately  (and  at  other  times,  being  an  excommunicate  person,  did  take  upon  you 
to  preach  and  baptize)  upon  the  Lord's  day,  or  other  days,  and  being  taken  then  by 
the  constable,  and  coming  afterward  to  the  assembly  at  Lynn,  did,  in  disrespect  to 
the  ordinance  of  God  and  his  worship,  keep  on  your  hat,  the  pastor  being  in  prayer, 
insomuch  that  you  would  not  give  reverence  in  vailing  your  hat,  till  it  was  forced 
off"  your  head,  to  the  disturbance  of  the  congregation,  and  professing  against  the 
institution  of  the  church,  as  not  being  according  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ;  and 
that  you  the  said  Obadiah  Holmes  did  upon  the  day  following  meet  again  at  the  said 
William  Witter's,  in  contempt  to  authority,  you  being  then  in  the  custody  of  the 
law,  and  did  there  receive  the  sacrament,  being  excommunicate,  and  that  you  did 
baptize  such  as  were  baptized  before,  and  thereby  did  necessarily  deny  the  baptism 
that  was  before  administered  to  be  baptism,  the  churches  no  churches,  and  also 
other  ordinances,  and  ministers,  as  if  all  were  a  nullity;  and  also  did  deny  the  law- 
fulness of  baptizing  of  infants ;  and  all  this  tends  to  the  dishonor  of  God,  the  de- 
spising the  ordinances  of  God  among  us,  the  peace  of  the  churches,  and  seducing 
the  subjects  of  this  Commonwealth  from  the  truth  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  perverting  the  strait  ways  of  the  Lord,  the  Court  doth  fine  you  thirty  pounds, 
to  be  paid,  or  sufficient  sureties  that  the  said  sum  shall  be  paid  by  the  first  day  of 
the  next  Court  of  Assistants,  or  else  to  be  well  whipped,  and  that  you  shall  remain 
in  prison  till  it  be  paid,  or  security  given  in  for  it.     By  the  Court, 

Increase  Nowel. 
[Clarke's  Narrative,  p.  44.] 

2"  Mr.  Wilson  is  represented  by  his  cotemporaries  as  one  of  the  most  humble, 
pious  and  benevolent  men  of  the  age."  Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  258. 
[237.]  But  when  that  darling  point,  infant  sprinkling,  was  in  danger,  see  how  it 
makes  the  most  benevolent  act  like  cruel  persecutors ! 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

causing  to  look  to  himself ;  so  was  I  stayed,  and  refreshed  in  the  thoughts 
of  my  God.  And  although  during  the  time  of  my  imprisonment  the 
tempter  was  busy,  yet  it  pleased  God  so  to  stand  at  my  right  haud,  that  the 
motions  were  but  sudden,  and  so  vanished  away.  And  although  there 
were  that  would  have  paid  the  money  if  I  would  accept  it,  yet  I  durst  not 
accept  of  deliverance  in  such  a  way,  and  therefore  my  answer  to  them  was, 
that  although  I  would  acknowledge  their  love  to  a  cup  of  cold  water,  yet 
could  I  not  thank  them  for  their  money,  if  they  should  pay  it.  So  the 
Court  drew  near,  and  the  night  before  I  should  suffer  according  to  my  sen- 
tence, it  pleased  God  I  rested  and  slept  quietly.  In  the  morning  my  friends 
come  [came]  to  visit  me,  desiring  me  to  take  the  refreshment  of  wine,  and 
other  comforts  ;  but  my  resolution  was  not  to  drink  wine,  nor  stroug  drink 
that  day  until  my  punishment  was  over,  and  the  reason  was,  lest  in  case  I 
had  more  strength,  courage  and  boldness  than  ordinarily  could  be  expected, 
the  world  should  either  say,  He  is  drunk  with  new. wine,  or  el«e  that  the 
comfort  and  strength  of  the  creature  hath  carried  him  through.  My  course 
was  this  : — I  desired  brother  John  Hazel  to  bear  my  friends  company,  and 
I  betook  myself  to  my  chamber,  where  I  might  communicate  with  my  God, 
commit  myself  to  him,  and  beg  strength  from  him.  I  had  no  sooner  se- 
questered myself,  and  come  into  my  chamber,  but  Satan  lets  fly  at  me,  say- 
ing, Remember  thyself,  thy  birth,  breeding,  and  friends,  thy  wife,  children, 
name  and  credit;  but  as  this  was  sudden,  so  there  came  in  sweetly  from 
the  Lord  as  sudden  an  answer,  'Tis  for  my  Lord  ;  I  must  not  deny  him 
before  the  sons  of  men  (for  that  were  [is]  to  set  men  above  him)  but  rather 
lose  all,  yea  wife,  children,  and  mine  own  life  also.  To  this  the  tempter 
replies,  Oh  !  but  that  is  the  question,  is  it  for  him?  and  for  him  alone?  is 
it  not  rather  for  thy  own,  or  some  other's  sake?  thou  hast  so  professed  and 
practiced,  and  now  art  loth  to  deny  it ;  is  not  pride  and  self  in  the  bottom? 
Surely  this  temptation  was  strong,  and  thereupon  I  made  diligent  search 
after  the  matter,  as  formerly  I  had  done,  and  after  a  while  there  was  eveu 
as  it  had  been  a  voice  from  heaven  in  my  very  soul,  bearing  witness  with 
my  conscience,  that  it  was  not  for  any  man's  case  or  sake  in  this  world, 
that  so  I  had  professed  and  practiced,  but  for  my  Lord's  case  and  sake, 
and  for  him  alone  ;  whereupon  my  spirit  was  much  refreshed  ;  as  also  in 
the  consideration  of  these  three  Scriptures,  which  speak  on  this  wise  : — 
"Who  shall  lay  any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God's  elect  ?"  "Although  I 
walk  through  the  valley  and  shadow  of  death  I  will  fear  no  evil,  thy  rod 
and  thy  staff  they  shall  comfort  me  ;"  and  "  He  that  coutinueth  to  the  end, 
the  same  shall  be  saved." 

But  then  came  in  the  consideration  of  the  weakness  of  the  flesh  to  bear 
the  strokes  of  a  whip,  though  the  spirit  was  willing,  and  thereupon  [here- 
upon] I  was  caused  to  pray  earnestly  unto  the  Lord,  that  he  would  be 
pleased  to  give  me  a  spirit  of  courage  and  boldness,  a  tongue  to  speak  for 


[1651.]  OBADIAH  HOLMES  WHIPPED.  191 

him,  and  strength  of  body  to  suffer  for  his  sake,  and  not  to  shrink  or  yield 
to  the  strokes,  or  shed  tears,  lest  the  adversaries  of  the  truth  should  there- 
upon blaspheme  and  be  hardened,  and  the  weak  and  feeble-hearted  dis- 
couraged ;  and  for  this  I  sought  [besought]  the  Lord  earnestly.  At  length 
he  satisfied  my  spirit  to  give  up,  as  my  soul  so  my  body  to  him,  and 
quietly  to  leave  the  whole  disposing  of  the  matter  to  him ;  and  so  I 
addressed  myself  in  as  comely  a  manner  as  I  could,  having  such  a  Lord  and 
Master  to  serve  in  thrs  business.  And  when  I  heard  the  voice  of  my 
keeper  come  for  me,  even  cheerfulness  did  come  upon  me,  and  taking  my 
Testament  in  my  hand,  I  went  along  with  him  to  the  place  of  execution, 
and  after  common  salutation  here  stood.  There  stood  by  also  one  of  the 
magistrates,  by  name  Increase  Nowel,  who  for  a  while  kept  silent,  and 
spoke  not  a  word,  and  so  did  I,  expecting  the  governor's  presence,  but  he 
came  not.  But  after  a  while  Mr.  Nowel  bade  the  executioner  do  his  office. 
Then  I  desired  to  speak  a  few  words,  but  Mr.  Nowel  answered,  It  is  not 
now  a  time  to  speak.  Whereupon  I  took  leave,  and  said,  Men,  brethren, 
fathers  and  countrymen,  I  beseech  you  give  me  leave  to  speak  a  few  words, 
and  the  rather  because  here  are  many  spectators  to  see  me  punished,  and  I 
am  to  seal  with  my  blood,  if  God  give  strength,  that  which  I  hold  and 
practice  in  reference  to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  testimony  of  Jesus. 
That  which  I  have  to  say  in  brief  is  this,  Although  I  confess  I  am  no  dis- 
putant, yet  seeing  I  am  to  seal  what  I  hold  with  my  blood,  I  am  ready  to 
defend  it  by  the  Word,  and  to  dispute  that'  point  with  any  that  shall  come 
forth  to  withstand  it.  Mr.  Nowel  answered  me,  now  was  no  time  to  dis- 
pute. Then  said  I,  Then  I  desire  to  give  an  account  of  the  faith  and  order 
I  hold,  and  this  I  desired  three  times,  but  in  comes  Mr.  Flint,  and  saith  to 
the  executioner,  Fellow,  do  thine  office,  for  this  fellow  would  but  make  a 
long  speech  to  delude  the  people.1  So  I  being  resolved  to  speak,  told  the 
people  ;  That  which  I  am  to  suffer  for  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  testimony 
of  Jesus  Christ.  No,  saith  Mr.  Nowel,  it  is  for  your  error,  and  going 
about  to  seduce  the  people.  To  which  I  replied,  Not  for  error,  for  in  all 
the  time  of  my  imprisonment  wherein  I  was  left  alone  (my  brethren  being 
gone)  which  of  all  your  ministers  in  all  that  time  came  to  convince  me  of 
an  error ;  and  when  upon  the  governor's  words  a  motion  was  made  for  a 
public  dispute,  and  upon  fair  terms  so  often  renewed,  and  desired  by  hun- 
dreds, what  was  the  reason  it  was  not  granted.  Mr.  Nowel  told  me,  it  was 
his  fault  that  went  away,  and  would  not  dispute  ,  but  this  the  writings  will 
clear  at  large.  Still  Mr.  Flint  calls  to  the  man  to  do  his  office  ;  so  before 
and  in  the  time  of  his  pulling  off  my  clothes  I  continued  speaking,  telling 
them,  that  I  had  so  learned,  that  for  all  Boston  I  would  not  give  my  body 
into  their  hands  thus  to  be  bruised  upon  another  account,  yet  upon  this    I 

Thomas  Elint  was  chosen  one  of  their  magistrates  in  1642. 


192  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

would  not  give  the  hundredth  part  of  a  wampum  peaque*  to  free  it  out  of 
their  hands,  and  that  I  made  as  mueh  conscience  of  unbottoning  one  but- 
ton, as  I  did  of  paying  the  thirty  pounds  in  reference  thereunto.  I  told 
them  moreover,  The  Lord  having  manifested  his  love  towards  me,  in  giv- 
ing me  repentance  towards  God  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  so 
to  be  baptized  in  water  by  a  messenger  of  Jesus  into  the  name  of  the 
Father,  Son  aud  Holy  Spirit,  wherein  I  have  fellow  ship  with  him  in  his 
death,  burial  and  resurrection,  I  am  now  come  to  be  baptized  in  afllictions 
by  your  hands,  that  so  I  may  have  further  fellowship  with  my  Lord,  and 
am  not  ashamed  of  his  sufferings,  for  by  his  stripes  am  I  healed. 

Aud  as  the  man  began  to  lay  the  strokes  upon  my  back,  I  said  to  the 
people,  Though  my  flesh  should  fail,  and  my  spirit  should  fail,  yet  my  God 
would  not  fail.  So  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  come  in,  and  so  to  fill  my  heart 
and  tongue  as  a  vessel  full,  and  with  an  audible  voice  I  broke  forth  pray- 
ing unto  the  Lord  not  to  lay  this  sin  to  their  charge  ;  and  telling  the  people, 
that  now  I  found  he  did  not  fail  me,  and  therefore  now  I  should  trust  him 
forever  who  failed  me  not ;  for  in  truth,  as  the  strokes  fell  upon  me,  I  had 
such  a  spiritual  manifestation  of  God's  presence  as  the  like  thereof  I  never 
had  nor  felt,  nor  can  with  fleshly  tongue  express ;  and  the  outward 
pain  was  so  removed  from  me,  that  indeed  I  am  not  able  to  declare  it  to 
you,  it  was  so  easy  to  me,  that  I  could  well  bear  it,  yea  and  in  a  manner 
felt  it  not  although  it  was  grievous  as  the  spectators  said,  the  man  striking 
with  all  his  strength  (yea  spitting  in  [on]  his  hand  three  times  as  many 
affirmed)  with  a  three-corded  whip,  giving  me  therewith  thirty  strokes. 
When  he  had  loosed  me  from  the  post,  having  joyfulness  in  my  heart,  and 
cheerfulness  in  my  countenance,  as  the  spectators  observed,  I  told  the  mag- 
istrates, You  have  struck  me  as  with  roses  ;  and  said  moreover,  Although 
the  Lord  hath  made  it  easy  to  me,  yet  I  pray  God  it  may  not  be  laid  to 
your  charge. 

u  After  this  many  came  to  me  rejoicing  to  see  the  power  of  the  Lord 
manifested  in  weak  flesh  ;  but  sinful  flesh  takes  occasion  hereby  to  bring 
others  in  trouble,  informs  the  magistrates  hereof,  aud  so  two  more  are 
apprehended  as  for  contempt  of  authority.  Their  names  wrere  John  Hazel 
and  John  Spur,  who  came  indeed  and  did  shake  me  by  the  hand,  but  did 
use  no  words  of  contempt  or  reproach  unto  any.  No  man  can  prove  that 
the  first  spoke  any  thing,  and  for  the  second,  he  only  said  thus  :  Blessed  be 
the  Lord  ;  yet  these  two  for  taking  me  by  the  hand,  and  thus  sayiug  after 
I  had  received  my  punishment,  were  sentenced  to  pay  forty  shillings,  or  to 
be  whipped.  Hot li  were  resolved  against  paying  their  fine;  nevertheless 
after  one  or  two  days  imprisonment,  one  paid  .John  Spur's  fine  and  he  was 
released  ;  and  after  six  or  seven  days  imprisonment  of  brother  Hazel,  even 

'A  wampum  peaque  is  the  sixth  part  of  a  penny  with  us. 


[1651.]  TESTIMONY  OF  OBADIAH  HOLMES.  193 

the  day  when  he  should  have  suffered,  another  paid  his,  and  so  he  escaped  ; 
and  the  next  day  went  to  visit  a  friend  about  six  miles  from  Boston,  where 
the  same  day  he  fell  sick,  and  within  ten  days  [he]  ended  his  life.  When 
I  was  come  to  the  prison,  it  pleased  God  to  stir  up  the  heart  of  an  old 
acquaintance  of  mine,  who,  with  much  tenderness,  like  the  good  Samaritan, 
poured  oil  into  my  wounds,  and  plastered  my  sores  j1  but  there  was  present 
information  given  what  was  done,  and  inquiry  made  who  was  the  surgeon, 
[chirurgeon]  and  it  was  commonly  reported  he  should  be  sent  for,  but  what 
was  done  I  yet  know  not.  Now  thus  it  hath  pleased  the  Father  of  mercies 
so  to  dispose  of  the  matter,  that  my  bonds  and  imprisonments,  have  been 
no  hindrance  to  the  Gospel ;  for  before  my  return,  some  submitted  to  the 
Lord,  and  were  baptized,  and  divers  were  put  upon  the  way  of  inquiry. 
And  now  being  advised  to  make  my  escape  by  night,  because  it  was  re- 
ported that  there  were  warrants  forth  for  me,  I  departed  ;  and  the  next  day 
after,  while  I  was  on  my  journey,  the  constable  came  to  search  at  the  house 
where  I  lodged,  so  I  escaped  their  hands,  and  was  by  the  good  hand  of  my 
heavenly  Father  brought  home  again  to  my  near  relations,  my  wife  and 
eight  children.  The  brethren  of  our  town,  and  Providence,  having  taken 
pains  to  meet  me  four  miles  in  the  woods  where  we  rejoiced  together  in  the 
Lord.  Thus  have  I  given  you  as  briefly  as  I  can,  a  true  relation  of  things  ; 
wherefore,  my  brethren,  rejoice  with  me  in  the  Lord,  and  give  all  glory  to 
him,  for  he  is  worthy,  to  whom  be  praise  forevermore  ;  to  whom  I  com- 
mit you,  and  put  up  my  earnest  prayers  for  you,  that  by  my  late  experi- 
ence who  have  trusted  in  God,  and  have  not  been  deceived,  you  may  trust 
in  him  perfectly.  Wherefore,  my  dearly  beloved  brethren,  trust  in  the 
Lord,  and  you  shall  not  be  ashamed  nor  confounded  ;  so  I  also  rest. 
Yours  in  the  bond  of  charity, 

Obadiah  Holmes.2 

Thus  I  have  given  the  reader  his  own  testimony,  without 
adding  or  diminishing  a  single  word,  that  all  who  under- 
stand may  judge  ;  for  the  Scriptures  assure  us,  that  "  the  ear 
trieth  words,  as  the  mouth  taste th  meat."  You  have  heard 
from  Mr.  Holmes,  that  two  men  were  put  to  trouble  for  the 
respect  they  showed  to  him  after  his  sufferings.     Mr.  Clarke 

xIn  a  manuscript  of  Governor  Joseph  Jencks,  written  near  fifty  years  ago,  he  says  : — 
"  Mr.  Holmes  was  whipped  thirty  stripes,  and  in  such  an  unmerciful  manner,  that 
in  many  days,  if  not  some  weeks,  he  could  take  no  rest  but  as  he  lay  upon  his 
knees  and  elbows,  not  being  able  to  suffer  any  part  of  his  body  to  touch  the  bed 
whereon  he  lay.  But  Mr.  Clarke  being  a  scholar  bred,  a  friend  of  his,  paid  his 
fine. 

2Clarke's  Narrative,  pp.  16—23,  [45—52.] 
13 


194  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

says,  it  was  reported  that  warrants  were  sent  forth  to  the 
number  of  thirteen,  but  that  t;  some  through  fear  were  fain 
to  hide  themselves,  and  being  strangers,  to  hasten  away,  or 
to  change  their  habit."  John  Spur,  one  of  their  church  mem- 
bers, who  was  taken,  gives  us  the  following  testimony. 
Says  he : — 

Mr.  Cotton  in  his  sermon  immediately  before  the  Court  gave  their  sen- 
tence against  Mr.  Clarke,  Obadiah  Holmes,  and  John  Crandal,  affirmed, 
that  denying  infant  baptism  would  overthrow  all,  and  this  was  a  capital 
offeuce  ;  and  therefore  they  were  soul-murderers.  When  therefore  the 
Governor,  Mr.  John  Endicott,  came  into  the  Court  to  pass  sentence  against 
them,  he  said  thus,  You  deserve  to  die,  but  this  we  agreed  upon,  that  Mr. 
Clarke  shall  pay  twenty  pounds  fine,  and  Obadiah  Holmes  thirty  pounds 
fine,  and  John  Crandal  five  pounds,  and  to  remain  in  prison  until  their  fines 
be  either  paid  or  security  given  for  them,  or  else  they  are  all  of  them  to  be 
well  whipped.  "When  Obadiah  Holmes  was  brought  forth  to  receive  his 
sentence,  he  desired  of  the  magistrates,  that  he  might  hold  forth  the  ground 
of  his  practice  ;  but  they  refused  to  let  him  speak,  and  commanded  the 
whipper  to  do  his  office  ;  then  the  whipper  began  to  pull  off  his  clothes, 
upon  which  Obadiah  Holmes  said,  Lord  lay  not  this  sin  unto  their  charge  ; 
and  so  the  whipper  began  to  lay  on  with  his  whip  ;  upon  which  Obadiah 
Holmes  said,  O  Lord,  I  beseech  thee  to  manifest  thy  power  in  the  weak- 
ness of  thy  creature.  He  neither  moving  nor  stirring  at  all  for  their 
[the]  strokes,  breaks  out  in  these  expressions,  Blessed  and  praised  be  the 
Lord,  and  thus  he  carried  it  to  the  end,  and  went  away  rejoicingly.  I 
John  Spur  being  present,  it  did  take  such  an  impression  in  my  spirit  to 
trust  in  God,  and  to  walk  according  to  the  light  that  God  had  communi- 
cated to  me,  and  not  to  fear  what  man  could  do  unto  me,  that  I  went  to 
the  man  (being  inwardly  affected  with  what  I  saw  and  heard)  and  with  a 
joyful  countenance  took  him  by  the  hand  when  he  was  from  the  post  and 
said,  Praised  be  the  Lord  ;  and  s%  I  went  along  with  him  to  the  prison  ; 
and  presently  that  day  there  was  information  given  to  the  Court  what  I  had 
said  and  done  ;  and  also  a  warrant1  [was]  granted  out  that  day  to  arrest 
both  myself  and  John  Hazel,  which  was  executed  on  the  morrow  morning 
upon  us,  and  so  we  were  brought  to  the  Court  and  examined.  The  Gov- 
ernor asked  me  concerning  Obadiah  Holmes,  according  as  he  was  informed 

!To  the  keeper  or  his  deputy  : 

]>y  virtue  hereof  you  are  to  take  into  your  custody  and  safe  keeping,  the  body  of 
John  Spur  for  a  heinous  offence  by  him  committed;  hereof  fail  not  [not  to  fail.] 
Dated  the  5th  of  the  7th  month,  1G51.  Take  also  into  your  safe  keeping  John 
Hazel.     By  the  Court, 

Increase  Nowel. 


[1651.]  TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  SPUR.  195 

by  old  Mr.  Cole  and  Thomas  Buttolph,  of  my  taking  of  him  by  the  hand, 
and  smiling,  and  I  did  then  freely  declare  what  I  did,  and  what  I  said, 
which  was  this  : — Obadiah  Holmes,  said  I,  I  do  look  upon  as  a  godly  man  ; 
and  do  affirm  that  he  carried  himself  as  did  become  a  Christian,  under  so 
sad  an  affliction  ;  and  his  affliction  did  so  affect  my  soul,  that  I  went  to  him 
being  from  the  post,  and  said,  Blessed  be  the  Lord But  said  the  Gov- 
ernor, What  do  you  apprehend  concerning  the  cause  for  which  he  suffered  ? 
My  answer  was,  That  I  am  not  able  to  judge  of  it.  Then  said  the  Gov- 
ernor, we  will  deal  with  you  as  we  have  dealt  with  him.  I  said  unto  him 
again,  I  am  in  the  hands  of  God.  Then  Mr.  Symonds,  a  magistrate,  said, 
"  You  shall  know  that  you  are  in  the  hands  of  men."  The  Governor  then 
said,  Keeper,  take  him  ;  and  so  I  was  presently  carried  away  to  prison. 

The  next  day  about  one  of  the  clock,  I  was  sent  for  again  into  the  Court. 
The  Governor  (being  then  about  to  go  out  of  the  Court  when  I  came  in) 
delivered  his  [this]  speech  to  me  ;  said  he,  You  must  pay  forty  shillings  or 
be  whipped.  I  said  then  to  those  of  the  Court  that  remained,  That  if  any 
man  suffer  as  a  Christian,  let  him  glorify  God  in  this  behalf.  Then  I  de- 
sired to  know  what  law  I  had  broken,  and  what  evil  I  had  done?  but  they 
produced  no  law,  only  they  produced  what  the  two  witnesses  had  sworn 
against  me.1  My  speech  thereto  was  this  : — My  practice  and  carriage  is 
allowed  by  the  word  of  God,  for  it  is  written  in  Rom.  12.  Be  like  affec- 
tioned  one  towards  another  ;  rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice  ;  and  it  is  con- 
trary to  my  judgment  and  conscience  to  pay  a  penny.  Then  said  Mr. 
Bendal,  I  will  pay  it  for  him,  and  there  presented  himself.  I  answered 
then  and  said,  I  thanked  him  for  his  love,  but  did  believe  it  was  no  accept- 
able service  for  any  man  to  pay  a  penny  for  me  in  this  case  ;  yet  notwith- 
standing, the  Court  accepted  of  his  proffer,  and  bid  me  begone.  Then  came 
John  Hazel  to  be  examined.  John  Spur.2 

lu  J.  Cole  being  in  the  market  place,  when  Obadiah  Holmes  came  from  the  whip- 
ping-post, Jobn  Spur  came  and  met  him  presently,  laughing  in  his  face,  saying, 
•  Blessed  be  God  for  thee  brother,'  and  so  did  go  with  him,  laughing  upon  him  up  to- 
wards the  prison,  which  was  very  grievous  to  me  to  see  him  harden  the  man  in  his 
sin,  and  shewing  much  contempt  of  authority  by  that  carriage,  as  if  he  had  been 
unjustly  punished,  and  had  suffered  as  a  righteous  man  under  a  tyrannical  govern- 
ment.    Deposed  before  the  Court,  the  5th  of  the  7th  month. 

Increase  Now  el." 

"I,  Thomas  Buttolph,  did  see  John  Spur  come  to  Obadiah  Holmes,  so  soon  as  he 
came  from  the  whipping-post,  laughing  in  his  face,  and  going  along  with  him  to- 
wards the  prison  to  my  great  grief  to  see  him  harden  him  in  his  sin,  and  to  shew 
such  contempt  of  authority.  Deposed  the  5th  of  the  7th  month,  1651,  before  the 
Court.  Increase  Nowel." 

[Narrative,  p.  58.] 

2Narrative,  pp.  26—28.  [56—58.] 

I  find  that  John  Hazel  was  admitted  a  freeman  at  Boston,  March  9,  1637,  and 
John  Spur,  May  22,  1639.     Massachusetts  Records. 


196  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

Mr.  Hazel  was  one  of  Mr.  Holmes's  brethren  of  Tfceho- 
both,  who,  though  above  threescore  years  old.  and  infirm  in 
body,  had  traveled  near  fifty  miles,  partly  indeed  on  other 
business,  but  chiefly  to  visit  his  beloved  brother  in  prison ; 
and  how  he  was  treated  there,  he  has  given  us  an  account, 
written  and  subscribed  with  his  own  hand  as  follows : — 

A  relation  of  my  being  brought  before  the  magistrates  the  Cth  of  the  7th 
mouth,  1651. 

I,  going  from  place  to  place,  to  buy  and  take  up  commodities  for  my 
use,  was  attached  or  arrested  by  the  marshal,  by  virtue  of  a  warrant  from 
the  Court,  to  appear  in  the  Court,  and  there  to  answer  for  a  high  misde- 
meanor committed  by  me  ;  and  coming  into  the  Court  (which  was  then 
privately  kept  in  the  chamber)  they  asked  me  divers  questions,  among[st] 
which  this  was  one,  Whether  I  did  think  that  Obadiah  Holmes  did  well  or 
not,  in  coming  among  them  to  baptize,  and  administer  the  sacrament?  lay- 
ing this  to  my  charge,  that  I  was  one  with  him,  and  of  the  same  judgment, 
and,  Whether  I  did  think  he  did  well  or  no,  in  his  so  carrviug  himself? 
To  which  I  answered,  I  had  here  nothing  to  do  with  that  which  another 
man  did,  but  I  was  here  to  answer  for  what  I  myself  had  committed 
against  their  law.  Then  said  they,  You  have  offended  our  law,  and  have 
contemned  authority,  for  you  took  him  by  the  baud,  and  did  countenance 
him  iu  his  sin,  so  soon  as  he  was  gone  from  the  post.  To  which  I  said,  If 
I  have  broken  any  law  of  the  place,  by  what  I  then  did,  I  am  willing  to 
submit  unto  punishment.  Yea,  said  the  Governor  you  took  him  by  the 
haud,  did  you  not?  and  spake  to  him  ;  wrhat  said  you?  did  you  not  say  so 
and  so?  Blessed  be  God,  &c.  To  which  I  said,  I  shall  refer  myself  unto 
the  testimonies  that  may  or  can  be  brought  against  me.  Well,  said  the 
Governor,  we  shall  find  testimony  enough  against  you.  Take  him  to  you, 
keeper,  and  we  will  call  you  forth  iu  public,  for  what  [that]  we  do  with 
you  we  will  proceed  in  public  with  you.  And  so  1  went  to  prison.  This 
was  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  first  time  I  was  called  before  them.  The 
next  day  being  the  last  day  of  the  week,  and  the  last  day  of  their  Court,  I 
was  in  expectation  all  the  forenoon  to  be  called  forth,  but  was  not.  So 
after  dinner,  when  (as  appeareth)  the  Court  was  risen,  and  some  of  the 
magistrates  departed,  I  was  sent  for  again  into  the  chamber,  where  was 
the  Governor  with  three  others,  sc*7,  Mr.  Belliugham,  Mr.  Ilibbius,  and 
Mr.  Increase  Nowel.  As  soon  as  I  was  come  into  the  room,  the  Gov- 
ernor read  my  sentence,  which  was,  that  I  must  pay  forty  Bhillil  gs,  or  be 
well  whipped  ;  and  so  immediately  he  departed,  and  when  he  was  gone  (for 
could  not  have  time  before)  I  answered,  that  I  desired  the  privilege  of  an 
English  subject,  which  was  to  be  tried  by  the  country,  to  wit,  a  jury,  and 


[1651.]  TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  HAZEL.  197 

to  be  made  to  appear  (if  they  can)  to  be  a  transgressor  by  a  law.  To 
which  they  said,  I  had  contemned  authority,  and  they  had  a  law  to  punish 
such,  and  said  they,  You  did  show  your  contempt  of  authority  in  that  you 
did  take  such  a  person  by  the  hand,  as  soon  as  he  was  from  the  post.  To 
which  I  answered,  I  could  not  do  that  which  I  did  in  contempt  to  authority, 
seeing  he  had  satisfied  the  law  to  the  full,  and  was  departed  from  the  place 
of  suffering ;  and  in  the  next  place,  what  I  did,  I  did  unto  him  as  my 
friend  ;  and  further  I  said,  If  I  had  taken  him  by  the  hand  so  soon  as  he 
was  loosed  from  the  post,  and  had  led  him  out  of  the  town,  I  should  not 
have  broken  any  law  either  of  God  or  man.  To  this  they  said,  that  there 
was  a  law  in  all  Courts  of  justice,  both  in  Old  England  and  other  coun- 
tries, to  punish  coutempt  of  authority,  and  so  had  they  such  a  law  among 
themselves.  To  which  I  said,  that  in  Old  England  and  other  places,  they 
had  such  a  law  I  denied  not,  but  that  law  also  was  both  enacted  and  pub- 
lished, but  what  law  have  I  broken  in  taking  my  friend  by  the  hand,  when 
he  was  free,  and  had  satisfied  the  law?  To  t -is  they  replied,  that  he  had 
not  satisfied  the  keeper.  To  this  I  answered,  that  he  had  talked  with  the 
keeper,  and  there  was  some  agreement  between  them,  and  so  in  that  sense 
also  not  under  the  law.  but  free.  Then  said  they,  if  you  would  have 
showed  kindness  unto  your  friend,  you  might  have  forborne  in  that  place, 
and  done  it  more  privately.  To  which  I  answered,  I  knew  not  but  that 
place  was  as  free  as  another,  he  having  satisfied  the  law.  The  testimony 
that  was  given  by  Mr.  Cole,  was  this,  u  I  saw  John  Hazel  take  Obadiah 
Holmes  by  the  hand,  but  what  he  said  I  cannot  tell."  This  is  the  sub- 
stance of  all  the  proceedings  until  the  last  day  at  night,  and  then  they  said 
I  should  be  whipped  ;  but  said  some  of  their  officers,  The  whipper  cannot 
be  found.  Then  they  commanded  that  they  should  be  ready  by  the  second 
day  morning,  and  then  I  did  expect  to  be  called  forth  ;  but  neither  that 
day,  nor  the  third,  nor  fourth,  was  I  called,  but  am  as  I  understand 
reserved  unto  the  fifth  day,  to  be  more  public  in  the  view  of  the  world. 
And  when  the  fifth  day  came,  as  I  had  many  before,  so  also  then,  that 
would  have  paid  the  fine,  if  I  would  give  my  consent  which  I  denied  to  do, 
and  so  set  myself  by  the  power  of  Christ  to  suffer  what  should  be  inflicted 
upon  me  ;  but  when  noon  came  I  was  told  I  should  not  suffer  whipping  ; 
yet  not  having  a  discharge  I  did  not  look  to  be  freed  until  the  keeper  told 
me  I  might  go  about  my  business.  Then  I  demanded  a  discharge, 
(meaning  under  the  magistrates'  hands)  so  he  bade  me  go  ;  he  would  dis- 
charge me. 

The  strokes  T  was  enjoined  by  the  Court  to  have,  were  ten  with  a  three- 
corded  whip  ;  the  very  same  number  I  understand,  that  the  worst  malefac- 
tors that  were  there  punished  had  ;  of  which  some  were  guilty  of  common 
whoredom,  another  of  forcing  a  little  child,  and  one  Indian  for  coining  of 
money.     Thus  far  have  you  a  relation  according  to  my  best   remembrance 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

from  the  first  to  the  last  of  all  the  passages  concerning  this  matter  ;  by  me 
John  Hazel,  written  with  mine  own  hand  in  Boston  prison,  the  1.3th  day  of 
the  seventh  month,  1651. 

A  postscript.  Since  I  wrote,  I  understand  there  is  report  that  I  was 
willing  to  pay  my  fine,  and  that  the  magistrates  would  not  accept  of  it 
without  I  were  willing.  Gentle  reader,  be  pleased  to  understand  that  this 
is  false,  for  it  was  without  my  consent  or  approbation ;  and  further 
understand,  that  the  fine  was  taken  by  them,  upon  the  proffer  of  Mr. 
Beudal  for  John  Spur.  It  was  willingly  accepted  by  the  magistrates,  and 
approved  of,  although  John  Spur  did  to  their  faces  contradict  it,  and  oppose 
it ;  therefore,  good  reader,  believe  not  such  reports. 

By  me,  John  Hazel."1 

Thus  far  we  have  attended  to  those  sufferers'  own  testi- 
mony, the  last  of  whom  wrote  the  postscript  of  his  relation 
on  his  death-bed ;  and  how  much  the  abusive  treatment  he 
met  with  was  the  cause  of  his  death,  God  only  knows.  Let 
us  now  hear  what  others  had  to  say  about  them.  Mr.  Clarke 
went  to  England  in  November,  1651,  and  the  next  year 
printed  the  narrative  from  whence  we  have  taken  these 
accounts;  upon  which  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  one  of  the 
Massachusetts'  first  magistrates,  then  in  our  mother  country, 
wrote  to  Messrs.  Cotton  and  Wilson,  of  Boston,  in  this 
manner : — 

Reverend  and  dear  friends,  whom  I  unfeignedly  love  and  respect  : — 
It  doth  not  a  little  grieve  my  spirit  to  hear  what  sad  things  are  reported 
daily  of  your  tyranny  and  persecutions  in  New  England,  as  that  you  fine, 
whip  and  imprison  men  for  their  consciences.  First,  you  compel  such  to 
come  into  your  assemblies  as  you  know  will  not  join  with  you  in  your  wor- 
ship, and  when  they  show  their  dislike  thereof  or  witness  against  it,  then 
you  stir  up  your  magistrates  to  punish  them  for  such  (as  you  conceive) 
their  public  affronts.  Truly,  friends,  this  your  practice  of  compelling  any 
in  matters  of  worship  to  do  that  whereof  they  are  not  fully  persuaded,  is 
to  make  them  sin,  for  so  the  apostle  (Rom.  14  and  23)  tells  us,  and  mauy 
are  made  hypocrites  thereby,  conforming  in  their  outward  man  for  fear  of 
punishment.  We  pray  for  you  and  wish  you  prosperity  every  way,  hoped 
the  Lord  would  have  given  you   so   much  light  and   love  there,    that   you 

'Narrative,  pp.  29—32,  [59—62.]  Here  note,  that  Mr.  Neal  mistakes  in  repre- 
senting that  it  was  the  General  Court  that  lined  these  men,  for  it  was  only  the  Court 
of  Assistants. 


[1651.]  MR.  COTTON'S  VINDICATION.  199 

might  have  been  eyes  to  God's  people  here,  and  not  to  practice  those  cour- 
ses in  a  wilderness,  which  you  went  so  far  to  prevent.  These  rigid' ways 
have  laid  you  very  low  in  the  hearts  of  the  saints.  I  do  assure  you  I  have 
heard  them  pray  in  the  public  assemblies  that  the  Lord  would  give  you 
meek  and  humble  spirits,  not  to  strive  so  much  for  uniformity  as  to  keep 
the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.1 

Mr.  Cotton's  answer : — 

Honored  and  Dear  Sir  : — My  brother  Wilson  and  self  do  both  of  us 
acknowledge  your  love,  as  otherwise  formerly,  so  now  in  the  late  lines  we 
received  from  you,  that  you  grieve  in  spirit  to  hear  daily  complaints  against 
us Be  pleased  to  understand  we  look  at  such  complaints  as  altogeth- 
er injurious  in  respect  of  ourselves,  who  had  no  hand  or  tongue  at  all  to 
promote  either  the  coming  of  the  persons  you  aim  at  into  our  assemblies, 
or  their  punishment  for  their  carriage  there.  Righteous  judgment  will  not 
take  up  reports,  much  less  reproaches  against  the  innocent.  The  cry  of 
the  sins  of  Sodom  was  great  and  loud,  and  reached  up  to  heaven  ;  yet  the 
righteous  God  (giving  us  an  example  what  to  do  in  the  like  case)  he  would 
first  go  down  to  see  whether  their  crime  were  altogether  according  to  the 
cry,  before  he  would  proceed  to  judgment.  And  when  he  did  find  the  truth 
of  the  cry,  he  did  not  wrap  up  all  alike  promiscuously  in  the  judgment,  but 
spared  such  as  he  found  innocent.2  We  are  amongst  those  whom  (if  you 
knew  us  better)  you  would  account,  [as  the  matron  of  Abel  spake  of  her- 
self,] peaceable  in  Israel.  Yet  neither  are  we  so  vast  in  our  indulgence  or 
toleration,  as  to  think  the  men  you  speak  of,  suffered  an  unjust  censure. 
For  one  of  them,  (Obadiah  Holmes)  being  an  excommunicate  person  him- 
self, out  of  a  church  in  Plymouth  patent,  came  into  this  jurisdiction,  and 
took  upon  him  to  baptize,  which  I  think  himself  will  not  say  he  was  com- 
pelled here  to  perform.3  And  he  was  not  ignorant  that  the  rebaptizing  of 
an  elder  person,  and  that  by  a  private  person  out  of  office  and  under  ex- 
communication, are  all  of  them  manifest  contestations  against  the  order 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  401,  402. 

2Alas  !  how  often  do  men  act  contrary  to  the  good  rules  they  prescribe  for  others  ! 
How  often  was  Mr.  Cotton  guilty  of  censuring  others,  without  a  fair  and  full  hear- 
ing !  He  does  it  to  Mr.  Holmes  before  he  has  got  to  the  end  of  this  letter.  And 
where  there  are  some  things  wrong,  yet  how  little  care  has  been  used  by  his  party  to 
distinguish  the  innocent  from  the  guilty,  among  the  Baptists  !  So  far  from  such  a 
care,  that  from  his  day  to  ours,  it  has  been  a  common  trade  of  that  party  to  ransack 
Germany,  in  order  to  reproach  the  English  Baptists  with  errors  and  bad  actions, 
which  we  never  had  any  more  concern  with,  than  our  accusers  have  with  the  whore- 
dom of  pope  Joan ! 

'What  an  evasion  is  this  !  Sir  Richard  spake  of  compelling  persons  into  their 
worship,  and  Cotton  here  turns  it  as  if  he  meant  a  compelling  persons  out  of  one 
government  into  another  to  worship  in  their  own  way. 


200  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  government  of  our  churches,  established  (we  know)  by  God's  law,  and 
he  knoweth)  by  the  laws  of  the  country.  As  for  his  whipping,  it  was 
more  voluntarily  chosen  by  him  than  inflicted  on  him.  His  censure  by  the 
Court  was  to  have  paid  (as  I  kuow)  thirty  pounds,  or  else  be  whipped  ;  his 
fine  was  offered  to  be  paid  by  friends  for  him  freely,  but  he  chose  rather  to 
be  whipped  ;  in  which  case,  if  his  suffering  of  stripes  was  any  worship  of 
God  at  all,  surely  it  could  be  accounted  no  better  than  will-worship.1  The 
other  (Mr.  Clarke)  was  wiser  in  that  point  and  his  offence  was  less,  so 
was  his  fine  less,  and  himself  (as  I  hear)  was  contented  to  have  it  paid  for 
him,  whereupon  he  was  released.2  The  imprisonment  of  either  of  them 
was  no  detriment.  I  believe  they  fared  neither  of  them  better  at  home, 
and  I  am  sure  Holmes  had  not  been  so  well  clad  of  many  years  before. 

But  be  pleased  to  consider  this  point  a  little  further.  You  think  to  com- 
pel men  in  matter  of  worship  is  to  make  them  [men]  sin.  If  the  worship 
be  lawful  in  itself,  the  magistrate  compelling  him  to  come  to  it,  compelleth 
him  not  to  sin,  but  the  sin  is  in  his  will  that  needs  to  be  compelled  to  a 
Christian  duty.  If  it  do  make  men  hypocrites,  yet  better  be  hypocrites 
than  profane  persons.  Hypocrites  give  God  part  of  his  due,  the  outward 
man,  but  the  profane  person  giveth  God  neither  outward  nor  inward  man. 
You  know  not,  if  you  think  we  came  into  this  wilderness  to  practice  those 
courses  here  which  we  fled  from  in  England.  We  believe  there  is  a  vast 
difference  between  men's  inventions  and  God's  institutions  ;  we  fled  from 
men's  inventions,  to  which  we  else  should  have  been  compelled  ;  we  compel 
none  to  men's  inventions.  If  our  ways  (rigid  ways  as  you  call  them)  have 
laid  us  low  in  the  hearts  of  God's  people,  yea,  and  of  the  saints  (as  you 
style  them)  we  do  not  believe  it  is  any  part  of  their  saintship.  Nevertheless, 
I  tell  you  the  truth,  we  have  tolerated  in  our  church  some  Anabaptists, 
some  Antinomians  and  some  Seekers,  and  do  so  still  at  this  day.  We  are 
far  from  arrogating  infallibility  of  judgment  to  ourselves  or  affecting  uni- 
formity ;  uniformity  God  never  required,  infallibility  he  never  granted  us.3 

Here  I  would  remark  : — 

1.  That  they  were  not  infallible,  can  easily  be  believed, 
by  all  who  see  what  great  absurdities  and  self-contradictions 
they  were  driven  to,  in  trying  to   support  that  way.      Mr. 

'"Although  the  paying  of  a  fine  seems  to  be  but  a  small  thing  in  comparison  of  a 
man's  parting  with  his  religion,  yet  the  paying  of  a  fine  is  the  acknowledgment  of 
a  transgression;  and  lor  a  man  to  acknowledge  that  he  lias  transgressed  when  his 
conscience  tells  him  he  has  not,  is  but  little,  if  any  thing  at  all,  short  of  parting 
with  his  religion;  and  'tis  likely  that  this  might  be  the  consideration  of  those  suffer- 
ers."   Governor  Jencks. 

2If  the  reader  will  look  hack  to  page  185,  he  may  see  how  contrary  this  is  to  truth. 

3Mass.  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  403— 40G. 


[1651.]  GROUNDS  OF  LEGISLATION  FOR  CONSCIENCE.  201 

Cotton  here  asserts  that  they  were  far  from  arrogating  infal- 
libility to  themselves,  and  yet  in  the  same  letter  had  said, 
our  churches  are  established,  "  We  know  by  God's  law,"  and 
that  in  the  points  Mr.  Holmes  contested.  And  the  use  of 
force  in  religious  matters  naturally  carries  men  into  this 
absurdity  ;  for  it  would  sound  very  odd  in  any  men,  to  com- 
pel others  to  their  way  by  the  magistrate's  sword,  and  yet 
own  at  the  same  time  that  they  did  not  know  but  chey  were 
compelling  them  into  errors.  When  I  first  came  into  the 
parish  where  I  now  dwell,  as  they  were  without  a  minister, 
their  committee  requested  me  to  preach  to  them  for  some 
time,  which  I  did.  But  in  the  year  following,  they  got  a 
major  vote  to  hire  another  sort  of  preaching,  and  taxed  me 
with  our  society  thereto.  This  caused  our  society  to  present 
an  address  to  that  party,  dated  November  21, 1748,  wherein 
they  say,  "  Pray  consider,  would  you  like  it  if  we  were  a  few 
more  in  number  than  you,  to  be  forced  to  help  us  build  a 
meeting  house,  and  maintain  our  minister]  We  doubt  it 
much."  To  this  the  other  party,  by  the  help  of  a  neighbor- 
ing minister,  returned  a  long  answer,  the  turning  point  of 
which  was  in  these  words,  viz. : — 

What  we  demand  of  you  is  equal  and  right ;  what  you  demand  of  us  is 
evil  and  sinful ;  and  hence  we  have  the  golden  rule  upon  our  side,  while 
you  are  receding  and  departing  from  it ;  for  if  we  were  in  an  error,  and  out 
of  the  right  way,  as  we  see  and  know  that  you  are  in  several  respects,  and 
you  see  and  know  it  of  us,  as  we  do  of  you,  we  think  the  golden  rule  would 
oblige  you  to  tell  us  of  our  error,  and  not  let  us  alone  to  go  on  peaceably 
in  it,  that  is  without  using  proper  means  to  recover  and  reclaim  us  ;  whether 
by  the  laws  of  God,  or  the  good  and  wholesome  laws  of  the  land,  as  we 
now  treat  you. 

Now,  only  allow  it  to  be  right  to  join  the  laws  of  the  land 
with  the  laws  of  God,  in  supporting  what  the  majority  calls 
the  right  way  of  worship,  and  then  how  can  any  one  fairly 
withstand  this  reasoning  ]  For  we  are  required  not  to  suffer 
sin  upon  our  neighbor ;  and  if  secular  force  be  a  means  that 
Christians  ought  to  use,  to  bring  their  neighbors  from  error 


202     HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  attend  and  support  the  truth,  how  can  Mr.  Cotton's  party 
be  condemned  for  seizing  and  punishing  Mr.  Clarke  and  his 
brethren  for  worshipping  in  a  private  house,  when  they  had 
an  Orthodox  meeting  in  the  town,  established  by  public 
authority  ?  And  how  can  the  major  party  in  any  parish  be 
blamed  for  imprisoning  men  for  their  minister's  rates  (as  my 
neighbors  did  me)  though  they  never  heard  him,  or  received 
the  least  benefit  from  him  ?  If  any  think  these  two  are  not 
parallel  cases,  I  ask  what  is  the  difference  1  Mr.  Clarke  and 
Holmes  might  have  gone  to  the  established  worship,  if  they 
would ;  and  Mr.  Holmes  might  have  had  his  fine  paid  it 
seems  if  he  would,  and  so  all  his  devotion  under  the  whip  is 
declared  to  be  "  no  better  than  will  worship."  According 
to  Mr.  Cotton's  own  words,  men  might  then  be  Anabaptists, 
Antinomians,  and  what  not,  if  they  would  but  come  to  hear 
the  right  ministers,  and  join  with  the  right  churches  ;  and  is 
not  the  greatest  complaint  they  have  at  this  day  against  the 
Baptists,  because  they  refuse  to  commune  with  Pedobaptist 
churches  ?  They  professed  to  grant  liberty  of  conscience 
then,  as  well  as  now.  Captain  Johnson  who  wrote  in  the 
time  we  are  upon,  says  of  erroneous  persons : — 

They  report  in  all  places  where  they  come,  that  New  England  govern- 
ment doth  persecute  the  people  and  churches  of  Christ ;  which,  to  speak 
truth,  they  have  hitherto  been  so  far  from,  that  they  have  endeavored  to 
expel  all  such  beasts  of  prey  (who  will  not  be  reclaimed)  that  here  might 

be  noue  left  to  hurt  or  destroy  in  all  God's  holy  mountain Neither  do 

they  exercise  civil  power  to  bring  all  men  under  their  obedience,  to  a  uni- 
formity in  every  point  of  religion,  but  to  keep  them  in  the  unity  of  the 
spirit,  and  the  bond  of  peace  ;  nor  yet  have  they  ever  mixed  their  civil 
powers  with  the  authority  peculiarly  given  by  Christ  to  his  churches  and 
officers  of  them,  but  from  time  to  time  have  labored  to  uphold  their  privi- 
leges, and  only  communion  one  with  another.1 

It  is  readily  granted  that  the  sentiments  of  Mr.  Williams 
and  Mr.  Clarke,  about  religious  liberty,  have  had  a  great 
spread  since  that  day,  so  that  men  of  a  contrary  mind  can- 

1  Johnson's  History,  p.  107. 


[1651.]  CLARKE'S  NARRATIVE  IRREFUTABLE.  203 

not  carry  their  oppressive  schemes  so  far  now  as  they  did 
then ;  yet  as  to  such  as  still  hold  that  they  have  a  right  to  use 
secular  force  to  support  worship,  I  think  the  chief  differ- 
ence between  them  and  their  fathers  in  1651,  lies  in  these 
two  points :  Then  they  gave  the  church  the  whole  power  of 
electing  and  settling  ministers  ;  now  the  world  is  empowered 
to  control  the  church  in  her  choice  ;  then  they  obliged  men 
to  hear,  as  well  as  support  their  good  ministers  ;  now  men 
may  hear  whom  they  please,  if  they  will  but  let  the  parish 
minister  have  their  money ;  but  if  that  is  refused,  men  are 
as  liable  to  imprisonment  or  confiscation  of  goods  now 
as  then ;  and  whether  the  compelling  of  a  man  to  pay  for 
that  which  is  no  benefit  to  him,  be  not  an  action  more  void 
of  the  very  appearance  of  justice*  than  the  compelling  of 
men  to  hear  what  the  compellers  esteemed  good  preaching 
was,  is  freely  referred  to  every  reader's  conscience  ;  as  it  also 
is,  whether  the  real  error  in  both  cases  does  not  lie  in  blend- 
ing divine  and  human  laws  together,  rather  than  in  any  mis- 
take about  applying  of  them  then,  more  than  now. 

2.  We  have  abundant  reason  to  think  that  Mr.  Clarke's 
narrative  of  their  sentiments  and  sufferings,  is  a  true  and 
just  one ;  for  he  published  it  in  1652,  and  it  greatly  concerned 
the  Massachusetts  colony  to  confute  the  same  if  they  could, 
and  they  did  not  want  for  men  of  ability  and  inclination  to 
vindicate  themselves  in  that  respect,  if  they  had  found  mat- 
ter to  work  upon.  But  Captain  Johnson  who  published  his 
history  of  that  colony  in  1654,  is  silent  about  this  remarka- 
ble affair.  Mr.  John  Leverett,  their  agent  at  the  British 
Court,  wrote  to  Governor  Endicott  about  it ;  but  he  in  a  letter 
of  June  29,  1657,  says,  "I  cannot  for  the  present  answer 
your  expectation  touching  Rhode  Island,  and  Clarke  and 
Holmes."1  Mr.  Morton  printed  his  New  England  Memorial 
in  1669,  in  which  he  endeavors  to  vindicate  the  country 
against  many  other  complaints,  but  leaves  this   narrative 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  309. 


204  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

untouched.  Mr.  Hubbard  wrote  a  large  history  of  the 
country  in  1680,  yet  touches  not  this  affair  unless  in  an 
obscure  hint  which  confutes  nothing.  Dr.  Cotton  Mather 
published  his  folio  history  of  New  England  in  1702,  but 
passes  over  these  sufferings  in  silence  ;  yea,  and  so  does 
Governor  Hutchinson,  though  his  history  is  the  most  impar- 
tial upon  religious  disputes  of  any  that  has  been  written  in 
this  country,  yet  he  says,  "  The  first  persecution  I  find  upon 
record  of  any  of  the  people  called  Anabaptists  was  in  the 
year  1665."1  In  his  third  volume,  which  is  a  collection  of 
ancient  papers,  are  a  few  references  to  these  sufferers,  which 
I  have  now  made  use  of,  but  instead  of  confuting,  they  con- 
firm Mr.  Clarke's  Narrative.  Mr.  Neal  who  wrote  in  London, 
1720,  has  from  that  narrative  given  a  brief  account  of  their 
sufferings,  and  has  done  them  the  most  honor  of  any  Pedo- 
baptist  author  I  ever  saw  ;  though  he  has  made  several  mis- 
takes about  them.2 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  226.  [208.] 

■As  in  Vol.  I,  p.  298,  he  says,  "Mr.  Newman  admonished  Holmes  of  his  offence; 
but  finding  him  obstinate,  and  not  willing  to  give  an  account  of  his  conduct  to  the 
church,  he  excommunicated  him ;"  for  which  he  gives  no  other  proof  than  Mr. 
Clarke's  Narrative,  and  that  informs  us,  p.  24,  [53,  54,]  that  the  first  occasion  of 
Mr.  Holmes's  separation  was,  "  That  seven  of  the  brethren  should  pass  an  act  of 
admonition  upon  a  brother,  without  the  consent  of  the  rest,  we  (says  Mr.  Holmes) 
being  twenty-three  in  number,  who  might  all  in  one  hour's  space,  if  in  health,  have 
come  together;  so  when  I  heard  of  it  I  went  to  Mr.  Newman,  and  told  him  of  the 
evil  which  he  and  the  other  six  had  done ;  he  told  me  they  were  the  church  represen- 
tative, and  if  four  of  them  had  done  it,  it  had  been  a  church  act.  When  this  comes 
to  the  congregation,  with  much  ado,  he  got  five  more  to  himself,  and  then  they  were 
twelve  and  we  eleven  ;  then  they  owned  themselves  to  be  the  church,  and  began  to 
deal  with  me  for  saying,  they  had  abused  the  church,  and  had  took  from  them  their 
power;  whereupon  I  told  them  I  should  renounce  them,  till  cither  they  saw  their 
sin,  or  1  farther  light."  After  which  a  number  more  drew  off  and  setup  a  meeting 
by  themselves,  and  there  was  public  notice  of  the  day  when  they  were  to  be  baptized, 
and  many  witnesses  of  the  transaction,  yet  says  he,  "  Not  one  man  or  woman  of 
Mr.  Newman's  company  ever  come  to  deal  with  me  for  evil  either  in  judgment  or 
practice  till  a  long  time  after."  Now  is  it  just  to  charge  Mr.  Holmes  with  obstinacy, 
only  for  his  refusing  to  submit  to  the  other  party  after  this?  Again  Mr.  Neal,  p.  302, 
Charges  Mr.  Clarke,  with  standing  upon  a  punctilio  against  very  fair  concessions  of 
the  Massachusetts  rulers,  only  because  he  refused  to  dispute  without  an  exemption 
from  the  lash  of  their  law. 


[1651.]  BAPTIST  FATHERS  SOUND  IN  DOCTRINE.  205 

3.  By  all  that  appears,  those  Baptist  fathers  were  sound 
in  the  faith  and  much  acquainted  with  experimental  and 
practical  religion.  All  that  was  proved  against  them  may  be 
summed  up  in  their  noble  testimony,  that  there  is  "  none  to 
or  with  Christ  the  Lord,  by  way  of  commanding  and  order- 
ing with  respect  to  the  worship  of  God ;  that  baptism  or 
dipping  in  water  is  one  of  his  commandments,  and  that  a 
visible  believer  or  disciple  of  Christ  is  the  only  person  that 
is  to  be  baptized  ;  that  every  such  believer,  may  in  point  of 
liberty,  yea,  ought  in  point  of  duty  to  improve  that  talent 
his  Lord  hath  given  him  with  meekness  of  wisdom ;  and 
that  no  such  believer  hath  any  liberty,  much  less  authority 
from  his  Lord,  to  smite  his  fellow-servant,  nor  yet  with  out- 
ward force  to  restrain  his  conscience,  nor  outward  man  for 
conscience  sake,  where  injury  is  not  offered  to  the  person, 
name  or  estate  of  others."  This  is  the  sum  of  all  the  princi- 
ples for  which  they  suffered  such  cruel  things,  though  their 
opposites  have  constantly  accused  them  of  others.  The 
assembly  of  Massachusetts  begin  their  law  against  the  Bap- 
tists in  1644,  with  saying,  that  "  since  the  first  arising  of  the 
Anabaptists  about  one  hundred  years  since,  they  have  been 
the  incendiaries  of  the  commonwealths,  and  the  infectors 
of  persons  in  main  matters  of  religion,  and  the  troublers  of 
churches  in  all  places  where  they  have  been  ;"  and  great 
pains  have  been  taken  by  teachers  and  writers  from  that  day 
to  this,  to  connect  these  odious  ideas  with  the  very  name  of 
Anabaptists.  But  let  the  reader  judge  whether  it  be  possible 
for  ministers  of  any  denomination,  to  visit  and  worship  with 
any  of  their  brethren,  more  peaceably  than  these  ministers 
did  with  their  brother  at  Lynn  ;  and  Avhether  he  can  find 
one  of  their  martyrs  who  showed  less  of  a  disposition  for 
denying  the  lawful  authority  of  magistrates,  or  more  of  a 
Christian  temper  in  sufferings,  under  their  unlawful  usurpa- 
tions, than  these  Baptists  did.  And  whether  they  were 
heterodox  or  not  in  main  matters  of  religion,  may  be  partly 


206  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

gathered  from  the  foregoing  account,  and  still  further  by  the 
confession  of  their  faith  inserted  below.1 

I  shall  close  this  chapter  with. an  address  of  Mr.  Roger 
"Williams    to  Governor  Endicott,   concerning  these   affairs. 

'Mr.  Clarke  left  a  confession  of  his  faith  in  writing,  from  whence  an  extract  was 
inserted  in  the  records  of  his  church,  the  main  of  which  lure  follows  : — 

"  The  decree  of  God  is  that  whereby  God  hath  from  eternity  set  down  with  him- 
self whatsoever  shall  come  to  pass  in  time.  Eph.  i.  2.  All  things  with  their  causes, 
effects,  circumstances  and  manner  of  being,  are  decreed  by  God.  Acts,  ii.  23. 
'Him,  being  delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge  of  God,'  &c. 
Acts,  iv.  28.  This  decree  is  most  wise;  Rom.  xi.  33;  most  just;  Horn.  ix.  13.  14; 
eternal;  Eph.  i.  4,5;  II  Thes.  ii.  13;  necessary;  Psa.  xxxiii.  2,  Prov.  xix.  21 ; 
unchangeable;  Heb.  vi.  17;  most  free ;  Rom.  ix.  13;  and  the  cause  of  all  good; 
Jam.  i.  17 ;  but  not  of  any  sin ;  I  John,  i.  5.  The  special  decree  of  God  concern- 
ing angels  and  men  is  called  predestination.  Rom.  viii.  30.  Of  the  former,  viz., 
angels,  little  is  spoken  in  the  Holy  Scripture ;  of  the  latter  more  is  revealed,  not 
unprofitable  to  be  known.  It  may  be  defined,  the  wise,  free,  just,  eternal  and  un- 
changeable sentence  or  decree  of  God,  determining  to  create  and  govern  man  for  his 
special  glory,  viz.,  the  praise  of  his  glorious  mercy  and  justice;  Rom.  ix.  17,  18, 
and  xi.  36.  Election  is  the  decree  of  God,  of  his  free  love,  grace  and  mercy, 
choosing  some  men  to  faith,  holiness  and  eternal  life,  for  the  praise  of  his  glorious 
mercy ;  I  Thes.  i.  4,  II  Thes.  ii.  13,  Rom.  viii.  29,  30.  The  cause  which  moved 
the  Lord  to  elect  them  who  are  chosen,  was  none  other  but  his  mere  good  will  and 
pleasure,  Luke  xii,  32.  The  end  is  the  manifestation  of  the  riches  of  his  grace 
and  mercy,  Rom.  ix.  23,  Eph.  i.  6.  The  sending  of  Christ,  faith,  holiness,  and  eter- 
nal life,  are  the  effects  of  his  love,  by  which  he  manifesteth  the  infinite  riches  of 
his  grace.  In  the  same  order  God  doth  execute  this  decree  in  time,  he  did  decree 
it  in  his  eternal  counsel.  I  Thes.  v.  9 ;  II  Thes.  ii.  13.  Sin  is  the  effect  of  man's 
free  will,  and  condemnation  is  an  effect  of  justice   inflicted  upon  man  for  sin  and 

disobedience A  man  in  this  life  may  be  sure  of  this  election,  II  Pet.   i,  10,  I 

Thes.  i,  4  ;  yea  of  his  eternal  happiness, but  not   of  his  eternal  reprobation  ;  for 

he  that  is  now  profane,  may  be  called  hereafter."    Thus  far  Mr.  Clarke. 

Mr.  Holmes  says  : — "  Having  had  two  or  three  requests  from  my  friends  and 
brethren,  in  special  my  brother  Robert,  to  give  some  information  of  my  present 
state  and  standing  with  reference  to  the  Lord  and  my  own  soul,  [I]  shall  as  briefly 
as  I  can,  give  account  thereof.  ....But  before  I  come  to  speak  to  the  point  in 
hand,  I  cannot  forget  the  rock  out  of  which  I  was  hewn,  and  the  cistern  out  of  which 
I  vm  digged  ;  who  was  by  nature  a  child  of  wrath  as  well  as  others,  and  by  actual 
transgression  added  sin  to  sin,  as  my  conscience  and  others  did  know.  But  God 
had  mercy  for  me  in  store  when  I  neither  deserved  it  nor  desired  it,  for  he  knows 
Who  are  hi-  j  and  the  elect  shall  obtain  it,  forever  Messed  be  his  holy  name,  to  whom 
be  glory  forever.  Amen.  Now  in  this  faith  or  belief  I  stand,  not  doubting  but  it  is 
the  faith  of  God's  elect. 

1.  "  I  believe  there  is  one  Essence  or  Being,  even  one  God,  who  made  heaven  and 
earth,  the  water-,  and  all  things  therein  contained,  who  governs  all  things  by  the 
word  of  his  power,  and  hath  appointed  life  and  death  to  men,  and  bounded  their  habi- 
tation-, whose  providence  extendeth  to  the  least  creature  and  actions.  2.  I  believe 
this  God  is  Father  to  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  in  a  special  understanding  may  be  dis- 


[1651.1  HOLMES'S  CONFESSION  OF  FAITH.  207 

The  governor  having  occasion  (as  they  often  had,)  to  write 
to  Mr.  Williams  about  the  "  peace  of  the  English  and 
Indians,"  and  having  at  the  entrance  of  his  letter  said, 
"  Were  I  as  free  in  my  spirit  as  formerly  I  have  been  to 

tinguished  as  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit,  and  yet  but  one  in  Essence.  3.  I  believe 
that  as  God  made  the  world,  so  by  his  word  made  he  man  in  his  own  image  without 
sin,  and  gave  him  a  most  excellent  place  and  being,  giving  him  commandment  what 
he  should  do,  and  what  he  should  forbear ;  but  through  the  malice  of  Satan  working 
with  his  wife  was  deceived ;  for  she  did  eat,  and  gave  her  husband  and  he  did  eat, 
which  was  the  first  cause  of  the  curse  to  him,  and  reached  to  all  his  posterity,  by 
which  came  death  natural,  and  death  eternal.  4.  I  believe  in  this  interim  of  time 
the  Lord  manifested  his  great  love  in  that  word,  '  The  seed  of  the  woman  shall 
break  the  head  of  the  serpent,'  but  enmity  was  between  the  two  seeds.  5.  I  believe 
that  at  that  and  after  time  the  Lord  was  worshipped  by  sacrifices,  though  darkly 
held  forth  to  us.  6.  I  believe  after  that  God  in  his  own  time  chose  a  people  to  him- 
self, and  gave  them  his  laws  and  statutes  in  a  special  manner,  though  he  had  always 
his  chosen  ones  in  every  generation.  7.  I  believe  with  this  people  he  made  a  choice 
covenant  to  be  their  God,  and  they  to  be  his  people;  which  covenant  they  brake 
though  he  was  a  Fatber  to  them,  and  was  grieved  for  them,  and  yet  did  not  only  give 
them  his  laws,  but  sent  his  prophets  early  and  late,  but  they  would  not  hear ;  and 
in  fullness  of  time  sent  his  only  Son ;  but  as  they  had  abused  his  prophets,  so  they 
killed  his  only  Son.  8.  I  believe  God  in  his  Son  made  a  new  covenant,  a  sure  and 
everlasting  covenant,  not  like  that  he  made  with  Israel,  of  which  Moses,  that  faith- 
ful servant,  was  mediator,  but  a  covenant  of  grace  and  peace  through  his  only  Son, 
that  whosoever  believed  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.  9.  I 
believe  that  all  those  that  are  in  this  covenant  of  grace,  shall  never  fall  away  nor 
perish,  but  shall  have  life  in  the  Prince  of  Life,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  10.  I  be- 
lieve no  man  can  come  to  the  Son  but  they  that  are  drawn  by  the  Father  to  the  Son, 
and  they  that  come,  he  in  no  wise  will  cast  away.  11.  I  believe  he  came  to  call 
8inners  to  repentance,  for  the  whole  need  him  not,  but  they  that  are  sick.  12.  I  be- 
lieve that  by  the  shedding  of  his  precious  blood  is  my  redemption,  and  not  mine 
only,  but  all  that  are  or  shall  be  saved.  13.  I  believe  that  as  he  was  God  so  was  he 
man,  for  he  did  not  take  the  nature  of  angels,  but  the  nature  of  Abraham.  14.  I 
believe  God  hath  laid  the  iniquity  of  all  his  elect  and  called  ones,  upon  him.  15.  I 
believe  the  Father  is  fully  satisfied,  and  the  debt  is  truly  paid  to  the  utmost  farthing, 
and  the  poor  sinner  is  quit,  and  set  free  from  all  sin  past,  present  and  to  come. 
16.  1  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures  which  testify  of  Christ  in  dark  shadows  and  types, 
and  all  that  was  written  of  Christ  in  the  Prophets  and  Psalms  ;  and  that  he  was  born 
of  a  virgin  at  Bethlehem,  and  come  to  his  own  and  they  received  him  not.  17.  I 
believe  he  was  put  to  death  and  hanged  upon  a  tree,  called  the  cross,  and  was 
buried,  and  the  third  day  rose  again  according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  appeared  to 
many.  18.  I  believe  he  ascended  to  his  Father  and  sitteth  at  his  right  hand,  having 
made  request  for  his.  19.  I  believe  that  the  Father's  commandment  and  his  decla- 
ration of  him  is  to  be  observed,  when  the  Father  uttered  that  voice  saying,  '  This 
is  my  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased;  hear  ye  him.'  20.  I  believe  there 
is  no  salvation  but  by  him  alone ;  no  other  name  under  heaven  by  which  man  can 
be  saved.  21.  I  believe  he  is  sent  unto  the  world,  and  to  be  published  to  all  men; 
but  some,  yea,  many  reject  the  counsel  of  God  against  themselves.     22.  I  believe 


208  niSTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

write  unto  you,  you  should  have  received  another  manner  of 
salutation  than  now,  with  a  good  conscience  I  can  express  ; 
however  God  knoweth  who  are  his,  and  what  he  is  pleased 
to  hide  from  sinful  man  in  this  life,  shall  in  that  great  day  be 

none  have  power  to  choose  salvation,  or  to  believe  in  Christ  for  life ;  it  is  only  the 
gift  of  God.  23.  I  believe  although  God  can  bring  men  to  Christ,  and  cause  them 
to  believe  in  him  for  life,  yet  he  hath  appointed  an  ordinary  way  to  effect  that  great 
work  of  faith,  which  is  by  means  of  sending  a  ministry  into  the  world,  to  publish 
repentance  to  the  sinner,  and  salvation,  and  that  by  Jesus  Christ ;  and  they  that  are 
faithful  shall  save  their  own  souls  and  some  that  hear  them.  24.  I  believe  that  they 
that  are  sent  of  God  are  not  to  deliver  a  mission  of  their  own  brain,  but  as  it  is  in 
the  Scripture  of  truth,  for  holy  men  wrote  as  they  were  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
25.  I  believe  the  precious  gifts  of  the  Spirit's  teaching  were  procured  by  Christ's 
ascension  and  given  to  men  for  begetting  of  souls  to  the  truth,  and  for  establish- 
ment and  consolation  of  those  that  are  turned  to  the  Lord ;  for  none  shall  pluck 
them  out  of  his  Father's  hand.  26.  I  believe  no  man  is  to  rush  into  the  ministry 
without  a  special  call  from  God,  even  as  gospel  ministers  had  of  old,  which  was  the 
call  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  with  some  talent  or  talents  to  declare  the  counsel  of  God  to 
poor  sinners,  declaring  the  grace  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  even  to  those  that 
are  yet'  in  the  power  of  Satan;  yea,  to  bring  glad  tidings  by  and  from  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  27.  I  believe  this  ministry  is  to  go  forth,  and  he  that  hath  received 
grace  with  a  talent  or  talents,  as  he  hath  received  freely  of  the  Lord,  so  he  is  freely 
to  give,  looking  for  nothing  again  but  the  promise  of  the  Lord.  28.  I  believe  none 
is  to  go  forth  but  by  commission,  and  carefully  to  .observe  the  same  according  as 
Christ  gave  it  forth  without  adding  or  diminishing;  first  to  preach  Christ,  that  is  to 
make  disciples,  and  then  to  baptize  them,  but  not  to  baptize  them  before  they  believe  ; 
and  then  to  teach  them  what  Christ  commanded  them.  For  as  the  Father  had  his 
order  in  the  former  dispensation,  so  hath  the  Son.  In  former  times  the  Lord  spake 
in  divers  ways  and  manners,  but  now  hath  he  spoken  by  his  Son.  29.  I  believe  that 
as  God  prepared  a  begetting  ministry,  even  so  doth  he  also  prepare  a  feeding  min- 
istry in  the  church,  where  a  called  people  out  of  the  world,  by  the  word  and  Spirit 
of  the  Lord,  assembling  of  themselves  together  in  a  holy  brotherhood,  continuing  in 
the  apostles'  doctrine,  fellowship,  breaking  bread  and  prayer.  30.  I  believe  such 
a  church  ought  to  wait  for  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  on  whom  it  may  fall,  and  to 
choose  out  among  themselves  either  pastor,  teacher,  or  elders  to  rule,  or  deacons 
to  serve  the  table,  that  others  may  give  themselves  to  the  word  and  prayer,  and  to 
keep  them  close  to  the  Lord,  and  their  fellowship  clear  and  distinct,  not  to  have  fel- 
lowship witli  tin:  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather  to  reprove  them.  31.  I 
believe  the  church  of  Christ,  or  this  company  gathered,  are  bound  to  wait  on  the 
Lord  for  the  Spirit  to  help  them,  and  have  liberty,  and  are  under  duty,  that  they  may 
prophesy  one  by  one  32.  I  believe  that  the  true  baptism  of  the  gospel,  is  a  visible 
believer  with  his  own  consent  to  he  baptized  in  common  water,  by  dying,  or  as  it 
were  drowning,  to  hold  forth  death,  burial  and  resurrection,  by  a  messenger  of  Jesus, 
into  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit.  33.  I  believe  the  promise  of  the 
Father,  concerning  the  return  i»f  Nrael  and  Judah.  and  the  coining  of  the  Lord  to 
raise  up  the  dead  in  Christ,  and  to  change  them  that  arc  alive,  that  they  may  reign 
with  him  a  thousand  ye.ii>,  according  to  the  Scripture.  34.  I  helieve  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  wicked  to  receive  their  just  judgment,  Go  ye  cursed  to  the  devil  and  his 


[1651.]  WILLIAMS'S  LETTER  TO  ENDICOTT.  209 

manifested  to  all."  Mr.  Williams  referring  to  the  sufferings 
of  Mr.  Clarke  and  Mr.  Holmes,  says  : — 

Sir,  at  the  reading  of  this  line,  the  speech  of  that  wise  woman  of  Tekoa 
unto  David  came  fresh  unto  my  thoughts  :  Speaks  not  the  King  this  thing 
as  one  that  is  guilty  ?  for  will  my  honored  and  beloved  friend  not  know  me 
for  fear  of  being  disowned  by  his  conscience  ?  Shall  the  goodness  and  in- 
tegrity of  his  conscience  to  God  cause  him  to  forget  me?  Doth  he  quiet 
his  mind  with  this  (God  knoweth  who  are  his  ;  God  hides  from  sinful 
man;  God  will  reveal  before  all?)  Oh  how  comes  it  then  that  I  have 
heard  so  often  [and]  heard  so  lately,  and  heard  so  much,  that  he  that 
speaks  so  tenderly  for  his  own,  hath  yet  so  little  respect,  mercy  or  pity  to 
the  like  conscientious  persuasions  of  other  men?  are  all  the  thousands  of 
millions  of  millions  of  consciences  at  home  and  abroad,  fuel  only  for  a 
prison,  for  a  whip,  for  a  stake,  for  a  gallows?  are  no  consciences  to  breathe 
the  air,  but  such  as  suit  and  sample  his  ?  may  not  the  Most  High  be 
pleased  to  hide  from  his  as  well  as  from  the  eyes  of  his  fellow-servants, 
fellow-mankind,  fellow-English  ?  .  .  .  .  Who  can  shut  when  he  will  open  ? 
and  who  can  open,  when  he  that  hath  the  key  of  David  will  shut?  .... 

Objection.  But  what  makes  this  to  heretics,  blasphemers,  seducers,  to 
them  that  sin  against  their  conscience  (as  Mr.  Cotton  saith)  after  convic- 
tion ?  .  .  .  .  First, I  answer,  he  was  a  tyrant  that  put  an  innocent  man  into  a 
bear's  skin,  and  so  caused  him  as  a  wild  beast  to   be  baited   to   death. 

angels  forever.  35.  I  believe,  as  eternal  judgment  to  the  wicked,  so  I  believe  the 
glorious  declaration  of  the  Lord  saying,  Come  ye  blessed  of  ray  Father,  enter 
into  the  joy  of  your  Lord,  which  joy,  eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  neither 
can  it  enter  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  the  glory  that  God  hath  prepared  for 
them  that  love  and  wait  for  his  appearance ;  wherefore  come  Lord  Jesus,  come 
quickly ! 

For  this  faitb  and  profession  I  stand,  and  have  sealed  the  same  with  my  blood  in 
Boston,  in  New  England,  and  hope  through  the  strength  of  my  Lord  I  shall  be  en- 
abled to  witness  the  same  to  death,  although  I  am  a  poor  unworthy  creature,  and 
have  nothing  to  plead  or  fly  unto  but  to  grace,  grace;  and  have  nothing  to  rest  on 
but  only  the  mercy,  the  free  mercy  of  God  in  and  through  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord  and 
Saviour;  to  whom  be  honor,  glory  and  praise  forever  and  ever,  Amen.  Thus  have 
I  given  you  an  humble  and  true  account  of  my  standing,  and  of  my  dear  wife's 
standing  in  our  faith  and  order,  that  you  may  consider  the  same,  comparing  what  is 
written  by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  our  rule  towards  God  and  man ;  commit- 
ting this  and  you  to  the  wisdom  and  counsel  of  God.  Yours  in  all  love  to  serve  con- 
tinually having  you  in  our  prayers  ;  fare  ye  well. 

"  This  for  Mr.  John  Angher,  and  my  brother  Robert  Holmes,  and  my  brother-in- 
law,  and  sisters,  with  Mary  Nonly,  and  to  them  that  love  and  fear  the  Lord.  For 
Robert  Holmes  in  the  parish  of  Manchester,  Lancashire."  Obadiah  Holmes's 
Manuscript,  1675. 

14 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Secondly.  This  is  the  common  cry  of  haunters  [hunters]  or  persecutors, 
heretics,  blasphemers,  &c,  and  why,  but  for  crossing  the  persecutors'  con- 
sciences (it  may  be  but  their  superstitions)  whether  Turkish,  Popish, 
Protestant,  &c.  This  is  the  outcry  of  the  pope  and  prelates,  and  of  the 
Scotch  Presbyterians,  who  would  fire  all  the  world,  to  be  avenged  on  the 
sectarian  heretics,  the  blasphemous  heretics,  the  seducing  heretics,  &c, 
had  it  not  pleased  the  God  of  heaven  who  bounds  the  insolent  rage  of  the 
furious  ocean  to  raise  up  a  second  Cromwell  to  stay  the  fury  of  the  oppres- 
sor,    whether    English,     Scottish,     Popish,     Presbyterian,     Independent, 

&c 

Let  it  not  be  offensive  in  your  eyes,  that  I  single  out  a  point,  a  cause  of 
my  banishment,  wherein  I  greatly  fear  one  or  two  sad  evils  have  [which 
hath]  befallen  your  soul  aud  conscience.  The  point  is  that  of  the  civil 
magistrate's  dealing  in  matters  of  conscience  and  religion,  as  also  of 
persecuting  [aud  hunting]  any  for  any  matter  merely  spiritual  and  religious. 
The  two  evils  intimated  are  these  :  first,  I  fear  you  cannot  after  so  much 
light,  and  so  much  profession  to  the  contrary  (not  only  to  myself  [and  so] 
often  in  private,1  but)  before  [so]  many  witnesses  ;  I  say,  I  fear  you  can- 
not say  and  act  so  much,  against  so  many  several  consciences,  former  and 
latter,  but  with  great  checks,  great  threatenings  aud  inward  throes  [great 
blows  and  throes]  of  conscience.  Secondly,  If  you  shall  thank  God,  that 
it  is  not  so  with  you,  but  that  you  do  what  conscience  bids  you  in  God's 
presence,  upon  God's  warrant,  I  must  then  be  humbly  faithful  to  tell  you, 
that  I  fear  your  underprizing  of  holy  light,  hath  put  out  the  candle,  and  the 
eye  of  conscience  in  these  particulars,  and  that  delusions,  strong  delusions, 
and  that  from  God,  (by  Satan's  subtilty)  hath  seized  upon  your  very  soul's 
belief,  because  you  prized  not,  loved  not  the  persecuted  Son  of  God  in  his 

despised   truths  and  servants I   desire  to  say   it  trembliugly  and 

mournfully,  I  know  not  which  way  he  will  please  to  raise  his  glory,  only  I 
know  my  duty,  my  conscience  and  my  love,  all  which  enforce  me  to  knock, 
to  call,  to  cry  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  at  yours,  and  to  present  you  with 
this  loving,  though  loud  and  faithful  noise,  and  sound  of  a  few  grounds  of 
deeper  examination  of  both  our  souls  aud  consciences,  uprightly  and  impar- 
tially at  the  holy  and  dreadful  tribunal  of  him  that  is  appointed  the  Judge 
of  all  the  living  and  the  dead. 

Be  pleased  then  (Honored  Sir)  to  remember  that  the  thing  which  we 
call  conscience  is  of  such  a  nature,  especially  in  Englishmen,  as  once  a 
pope  of  Rome,  at  the  suffering  of  an  Englishman  in  Rome  himself  observed 
that  although  it  be  groundless,  false  and  deluded,  yet  it  is  not  by  any  argu- 
ments of  tormeuts  easily  removed.  I  speak  not  of  the  stream  of  the  mul- 
titude of  all  uations,  which  have  their  ebbings  and  Sowings  in  religion   (as 

'Governor  Endicott  was  once  a  member  of  Salem  church,  under  Mr.  Williams's 
ministry. 


[1651.]  WILLIAMS'S   LETTER   TO  ENDICOTT.  211 

the  longest  sword  and  strongest  arm  of  flesh  carries  it1  (but  I  speak  of 
conscience,  a  persuasion  fixed  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  a  man,  which 
enforceth  him  to  judge  (as  Paul  said  of  himself  a  persecutor)  and  to  do  so 
and  so  with  respect  to  God,  his  worship,  &c.     This  conscience  is  found  in 

all  mankind   more   or   less To    this  purpose  let  me  freely  without 

offence  remember  you  (as  I  did  Mr.  Clarke,  newly  come  up  from  his  suf- 
ferings amongst  you)  I  say,  remember  you  of  the  story  I  did  him  of  Wil- 
liam Hartly  iu  queen  Elizabeth,  her  days,  who  receiving  the  sentence  of 
hanging,  ....  spake  confidently  (as  afterward  he  suffered)  "What  tell  you 
me  of  hanging?  if  I  had  ten  thousand  millions  of  lives,  I  would  spend  them 
all  for  the  faith  of  Rome  !"  Sir,  I  am  far  from  glancing  the  least  counte- 
nance on  the  consciences  of  papists  ....  all  that  I  observe  is,  that  bold- 
ness and  confidence,  zeal  and  resolution,  as  it  is  commendable  in  a  kind 
when  it  seriously  respects  a  Deity,  so  also   the   greatest  confidence  hath 

sometimes  need  of  the  greatest  search  and  examination Wise  men 

use  to  enquire  what  motives,  what  occasions,  what  snares,  what  tempta- 
tions were  there  which  moved,  allured,  &c Surely  sir,  the  baits,  the 

temptations,  the  snare3  laid  to  catch  you  were  not  few,  nor  common 

It  is  no  small  offer,  the  choice  and  applause  and  rule  over  so  many  towns, 
so  many  holy,  so  many  wise,  in   such  a    holy  way  as  you  believe   you  are 

in I  cannot  but  fear  and  lament,  that  some  of  these  and  others  have 

been  too  strong  and  potent   with    [for J   you Sir,  I  must    be  humbly 

bold  to  say,  it  is  [that  'tis]  impossible  for  any  man  or  men  to  maintain  their 
Christ  by  the  sword,  lind  to  worship  a  true  Christ !  to  fight  against  all  con- 
sciences opposite  to  theirs,  and  not  to  fight  against  God  in  some  of  them, 
and  to  hunt  after  the  precious  life  of  the  true  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Oh  re- 
member whither  your  principles  and  consciencies,  must  in  time  and  oppor- 
tunity force  you  !  .  . . .  Yourself  and  others  have  said  it  by  your  principles, 
such  whom  you  count  heretics,  blasphemers,  seducers,  ought  to  be  put  to 
death.  You  cannot  be  faithful  to  your  principles  and  consciences,  if  you 
satisfy  them  with  but  imprisoning,  fining,  whipping  and  banishing  the  here- 
tics, and  by  saying  that  banishing  is  a  kind  of  death,  as  some  chief  with 
you  formerly  said  in  my  case.2     I  end  with  an  humble  cry  to  the  Father  of 

!The  following  words  are  remarkable,  viz. :  "  It  is  made  by  learned  and  judicious 
writers,  one  of  the  undoubted  rights  of  sovereignty  to  determine  what  religion  shall 
be  publicly  professed  and  exercised  within  their  dominions.  Why  else  do  we  in 
New  England  that  profess  the  doctrines  of  Calvin,  yet  practice  the  discipline  of  them 
called  Independent,  or  Congregational  churches,  but  because  the  authority  of  the 
country  is  persuaded,  that  is  most  agreeable  to  the  mind  of  God."  Mr.  Hubbard's 
Election  Sermon  at  Boston,  May  3,  1676,  p.  35. 

2Cotton,  on  the  contrary,  declared  that  in  this  country,  "where  a  man  may  make 
his  choice  of  a  variety  of  more  pleasant  and  profitable  seats  than  he  leaveth  behind 


212    HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

mercies,  that  you  may  take  David's  counsel,  and  silently  commune  with 
your  own  heart  upon  your  bed,  reflect  upon  your  own  spirit,  and  believe 
him  that  said  [it]  to  his  over-zealous  disciples.  "You  know  not  what  spirit 
you  are  of;"  that  no  sleep  may  seize  [upon]  your  eyes,  nor  slumber  upon 
your  eye-lids,  until  your  serious  thoughts  have  [seriously]  calmly,  and 
unchangeably,  through  help  from  Christ,  fixed,  first  on  a  moderation  towards 
the  spirit  and  consciences  of  all  mankind,  merely  differing  from,  or  oppos- 
ing yours  with  only  religious  and  spiritual  opposition  ;  . . . .  secondly,  a 
deep  and  cordial  resolution  to  search,  to  listen,  to  pray,  to  fast,  and  more 
fearfully,  more  tremblingly  to  enquire  what  the  holy  pleasure,  and  the 
holy  mysteries  of  the  Most  Holy  are  ;  in  whom  I  humbly  desire  to  be,  your 
poor  fellow  servant,  unfeignedly,  respective,  and  faithful. 

Roger  Williams.1 

How  happy  had  it  been  for  New  England,  and  for  Gov- 
ernor Endicott  in  particular,  if  they  had  then  regarded  this 
faithful  admonition  of  their  old  friend  !  but  disregarding  it, 
Mr.  Williams's  words  a  few  years  after  were  fully  verified, 
when,  under  Governor  Endicott's  administration,  the  blood 
of  the  Quakers  was  shed,  which  has  left  an  indelible  stain 
upon  their  characters,  and  "  sullied  the  glory  of  their  former 
sufferings  from  the  bishops ;  for  now  it  appeared  that  the 
New  England  Puritans  were  no  better  friends  to  liberty  of 
conscience  than  their  adversaries,  and  that  the  question  be- 
tween them  was  not,  whether  one  party  of  Christians  should 
have  power  to  oppress  another,  but  who  should  have  that 
power]"2  . 

him,"  "  banishment  is  not  counted  so  much  a  confinement  as  an  enlargement." 
Reply,  &c,  pp.  8,  9. — Ed. 

'Appendix  of  his  Reply  to  Cotton,  1G52,  pp.  303—313.  Mr.  Cotton  died  the  twenty- 
third  of  December,  that  year. 

"Neal's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I,  p.  320. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  VARIETY  OF  EVENTS,  FROM  1651  TO  1664. 

A  review  of  1651,  presents  before  us  such  a  dark  cloud 
and  threatening  gloom,  upon  the  cause  of  believers'  baptism, 
and  true  liberty  of  conscience,  as  must  affect  every  heart 
that  is  not  extremely  obdurate.  The  friends  of  that  cause 
had  been  so  cruelly  treated  in  Europe,  that  a  number  of 
them  tied  into  America,  where  a  persecuting  temper  followed 
them  and  expelled  them  out  of  Massachusetts  colony ;  but 
God  gave  them  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  heathen,  from  whom 
they  obtained  a  grant  of  lands,  upon  which  to  begin  the  first 
civil  government  that  ever  allowed  equal  liberty  of  conscience, 
since  our  Saviour  died  for  us.  With  great  hazard  and  ex- 
pense Mr.  Williams  had  procured  a  charter  for  that  purpose, 
which  they  had  enjoyed  about  seven  years,  when  alas!  Mr. 
Coddington,  who  had  the  deeds  and  records  of  the  island 
in  his  own  hands,  went  to  England,  and  procured  from  the 
Council  of  State,  a  commission,  dated  April  3,  1651,  signed 
by  J.  Bradshaw,  constituting  him  Governor  of  the  islands, 
to  rule  them  with  a  council  of  six  men,  nominated  by  the 
people  and  approved  by  himself;  which  split  this  little  col- 
ony into  two  parts,  and  Mr.  Clarke  and  his  brethren  were  to 
submit  to  a  Governor  that  they  had  no  hand  in  choosing, 
and  their  estates  lay  at  his  mercy.  This  melancholy  news 
arrived  just  about  the  time  that  he  and  his  brethren  had 
been  so  cruelly  handled  in  the  Massachusetts,  only  for  visit- 


214  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ing  and  worshiping  with  an  aged  brother  there.  At  the 
same  time  a  party  both  of  English  and  savages  were  sup- 
ported in  the  heart  of  Mr.  Williams's  part  of  the  colony,  in 
opposition  to  all  the  good  orders  that  he  endeavored  to  es- 
tablish among  them.  What  could  they  now  do  ]  where 
could  they  go  for  relief]  banished  from  their  mother  king- 
dom, and  from  neighboring  colonies,  who  were  exerting  all 
their  power  to  divide  and  corquer  them !  Indeed  a  man  of 
the  greatest  worldly  note  among  them,  seemed  as  if  he  was 
like  to  do  it  effectually.1 

'Near  the  same  time  the  Court  at  Boston  imposed  a  large  fine  upon  the  church  in 
Maiden,  for  calling  a  man  to  be  their  minister,  without  the  approbation  of  the  rulers 
and  other  ministers  ;  and  as  they  had  before  a  law  against  gathering  churches  with- 
out their  consent,  their  assembly  now  made  another  wherein  they  enacted,  "that  no 
minister  should  be  called  unto  office  in  any  of  the  churches,  without  the  approbation 
of  some  of  the  magistrates,  as  well  as  the  neighboring  churches ;  on  which  ground 
in  the  year  1G53,  the  Court  would  not  allow  the  north  church  in  Boston  to  call  Mr. 
Powell,  a  well  gifted  though  illiterate  person  to  the  stated  office  of  a  public  teacher 
or  minister;  wherefore  the  people  contented  themselves  with  his  being  called  to  the 

place  of  a  ruling  elder And  whereas  the  plantations  of  New  England  had  never 

as  yet  been  acquainted,  with  the  way  of  paying  tithes  for  the  support  of  the  minis- 
try, it  was  now  left  to  the  power  of  the  county  courts  throughout  the  whole  juris- 
diction, to  make  sufficient  provision  for  the  maintenance  of  the  ministry  in  the  re- 
spective towns  of  the  colony."     [Hubbard,  p.  551.] — B. 

The  Massachusetts  Records  give  the  following  account  of  the  above-mentioned 
dealings  with  the  church  in  Maiden.  Under  date  of  May  22,  1G51,  is  the  record: — 
"Whereas  Mr.  Marmaduke  Matthews  hath  formerly  and  lately  given  offence  to  the 
magistrates,  elders  and  many  brethren,  in  some  unsafe  if  not  unsound  expressions 
in  his  public  teachings,  and  as  it  hath  been  manifested  to  this  Court,  and  lias  not  yet 
given  satisfaction  to  those  magistrates  and  elders  that  were  appointed  to  receive  sat- 
isfaction from  him,  since  which  time  there  hath  in  his  public  ministry  been  deliv- 
ered other  unsafe  and  offensive  expressions  by  him,  whereby  both  magistrates,  min- 
isters and  churches  were  occasioned  to  write  to  the  church  of  Maiden  to  advise  them 
not  to  proceed  to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Matthews,  which  offences  taken  against  him 
were  also  made  known,  yet,  contrary  to  all  advice  and  the  rule  of  God's  word,  as 
also  the  peace  of  the  churches,  the  church  of  Maiden  hath  proceeded  to  the  ordina- 
tion of  Mr.  Matthews;  this  Court  therefore,  taking  into  consideration  the  premises 
and  the  dangerous  consequences  and  effects  that  may  follow  such  proceedings,  &c." 
After  this  preamble,  the  act  proceeds  to  appoint  a  committee  of  nine  deputies  to  ex- 
amine the  affair,  with  permission  to  "  call  in  the  help  or  advice  of  any  of  the  rever- 
end riders  whom  they  shall  think  meet."  "The  offence  of  the  church"  is  then 
"referred  to  the  next  Court,"  but  Mr.  Matthews,  for  "  Buffering  himself  to  be  or- 
dained contrary  to  the  rules  of  God's  word,"  is  required  to  "  give  satisfaction  at  this 
session  of  this  Court,  by  an  humble  acknowledgment  of  his  sin  for  his  so  proceed- 
ing; which,  if  he  refuse  to  do,  to  pay  the  sum  of  ten  pounds  within  one  month." 
Mr.  Mathews  "gave  no  satisfaction  before  the  Court,"  and  a  warrant  was  issued  to 


[1651.]        MALDEN  AND  BOSTON  CHURCHES  RESTRAINED.  215 

Captain  Johnson  at  that  time  said,  "  Familists,  Seekers, 
Antinomians,  and  Anabaptists,  [they]  are  so  ill  armed,  that 
they  think  it  best  sleeping  in  a  whole  skin,  fearing  that  if 
the   day  of  battle  once  go  on  they  shall  fall   among   anti- 

11  levy  the  fine  on  his  goods."  The  reverend  gentleman  seems  not  to  have  been  en- 
cumbered with  a  heavy  weight  of  worldly  means,  for,  at  the  next  session  of  the 
Court  his  fine  was  respited  "  till  other  goods  appear  besides  books."  He  made  an 
acknowledgment  to  the  next  General  Court,  and  asked  the  remission  of  his  fine, 
which  was  at  first  refused  but  afterwards  granted. 

October  14,  1651,  the  Court  "  appointed  the  church  of  Maiden  speedily  to  con- 
sider the  errors  Mr.  Matthews  stands  charged  with  in  Court,"  and  if  they  refused, 
the  Secretary  was  directed  to  give  notice  to  the  churches  of  Cambridge,  Charles- 
town,  Lynn  and  Reading,  "  to  send  their  messengers  in  way  of  counsel  and  advice 
unto  the  church  of  Maiden,"  "to  debate  the  doctrines  there  delivered  by  Mr. 
Matthews."  At  the  same  session  it  is  recorded,  "  The  Court  having  perused  an  an- 
swer of  the  church  of  Maiden  touching  those  things  wherein  they  have  given  of- 
fence, are  not  satisfied  therewith,  and  do  therefore  judge  that  the  members  of  the 
church  of  Maiden  shall  be  fined  for  their  offences  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds."  This 
fine  was  levied  on  the  estates  of  three  members  of  the  church,  and  they  were  em- 
powered to  apportion  it  upon  the  rest  of  the  church  except  '•  such  as  consented  not 
to  Mr.  Matthews's  ordination."  Ten  pounds  of  the  fine  were  afterwards  remitted. 
May  23,  1655,  certain  of  the  church  presented  an  acknowledgment  and  a  petition  for 
the  repayment  of  the  remainder  of  the  fine,  but  were  answered,  "  The  Court  doth 
not  think  meet  to  grant  the  petitioners'  request  herein." 

The  case  of  the  "  north  church  in  Boston  "  appears  from  the  records  of  the  Court 
to  have  been  as  follows  : — The  church  seems  to  have  referred  the  question  of  Mr. 
Powell's  ordination  to  the  General  Court  for  advice,  representing  themselves  satis- 
fied of  his  "  abilities  and  fitness,"  notwithstanding  his  limited  education;  where- 
upon, October  19,  1652,  the  Court  expressed  themselves  willing  that  Mr.  Powell 
should  "  exercise  in  public"  with  the  new  church  in  Boston,  "till  it  please  God  to 
provide  better  for  them,"  but  they  advised  against  their  proceeding  to  establish  him 
as  teaching  elder.  They  gave  as  reasons,  that  Boston  is  "a  place  of  such  public 
resort,"  and  the  humor  of  the  times  to  discourage  learning.  Four  days  later  is  the 
record,  "  The  General  Court  having  received  credible  information  that  the  new 
church  in  Boston  have  chosen  Mr.  Powell  to  be  their  minister,  and  that  he  hath  ac- 
cepted their  choice,  they  think  it  meet,  in  respect  of  the  trust  the  country  hath  com- 
mitted to  them,  lovingly  to  advise  both  the  church  and  Mr.  Powell  to  desist  from  any 
further  proceeding."  The  church  petitioned  the  next  Court  for  liberty  to  call  and 
ordain  Mr.  Powell,  but  the  Court  replied  that  they  could  not  but  judge  Mr.  Powell 
unfit  for  the  office  of  pastor  or  teacher,  nor  could  they  consent  thereto,  because  they 
could  not  be  satisfied  that  Mr.  Powell  had  such  abilities,  learning  and  qualifications 
as  are  requisite  and  necessary  for  an  able  ministry  of  the  gospel.  They  added, 
"  The  Court  conceives  the  church  may  call  Mr.  Powell  to  the  office  of  ruling  elder, 
and  then  they  may  enjoy  all  the  ordinances  of  Christ  amongst  them  save  the  sacra- 
ment, which  they  are  supplied  with  in  Boston;  and  their  waiting  till  the  Lord  shall 
send  unto  them  an  able  minister  of  the  gospel,  they  hope,  will  not  be  in  vain."  The 
next  year  the  church  repeated  its  petition,  and  was  curtly  answered  by  being  referred 
to  the  records  of  the  previous  Court. — Ed. 


216  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Christ's  armies  ;  [arid]  therefore  they  cry  out  like  cowards, 
If  you  will  let  me  alone,  I  will  let  you  alone  ;  but  assuredly 
the  Lord  Christ  hath  said,  '  He  that  is  not  with  us,  is  against 
us  ;'  there  is  no  room  in  his  army  for  toleratorists."1  Had 
this  been  true,  how  could  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Clarke  have 
persevered  like  heroes,  in  the  cause  of  equity  and  liberty  as 
they  did  ?  For  being  requested  by  their  injured  neighbors, 
they  again  crossed  the  boisterous  ocean,  and  appeared  as  ad- 
vocates for  them  at  the  British  court ;  and  also  published  to 
the  world  their  pleas  for  equal  liberty  of  conscience ;  and 
where  can  any  writers  be  found  of  so  early  date,  who  de- 
fended that  important  right  of  mankind,  so  well  as  they  did  ? 
Mr.  Locke's  excellent  letters  upon  that  subject  were  written 
near  forty  years  afterward. 

A  little  look  back  will  give  a  more  clear  and  just  view  of 
the  important  concerns  of  Mr.  Williams's  agency  at  this 
time.  When  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  met 
at  Plymouth,  September  7, 1648, Mr.  Coddington  and  Captain 
Partridge  tried  for  a  confederacy  with  them,  but  were  denied 
it,  unless  they  would  come  in  as  part  of  Plymouth  colony. 
Mr.  Henry  Bull  then  complained  to  them,  that  some  Narra- 
gansett  Indians  had  beat  him,  and  done  him  other  injuries  ; 
and  Mr.  John  Smith ,  Assistant  for  Warwick,  sent  a  writing 
by  Messrs  Holden  and  Warner,  in  the  behalf  of  the  whole 
town,  "  wherein  they  complain,  among  other  things,  of 
divers  injuries,  insolences  and  affronts  offered  them  by  the 
Indians  that  are  about  them,  and  near  inhabitants  to  them, 
as,  namely,  killing  their  cattle,  about  a  hundred  hogs,  abusing 
their  servants  when  they  take  them  alone,  [and]  sometimes 
making  violent  entrance  into  their  houses,  and  striking  the 
masters  thereof,  stealing  and  purloining  their  goods  ;  and 
hereupon  do  earnestly  desire  to  know  the  minds  of  the 
Commissioners  herein,  and  to  receive  advice  from  them." 
Upon  which  the  Commissioners  gave  them  a  writing  to  the 

'Johnson,  p.  281. 


[1651.]  INJUSTICE  TOWARD  WARWICK.  217 

sachems  and  others  to  warn  them  "  to  prevent  and  abstain 
from  all  such  miscarriages  for  the  future,  and  if  any  of  them 
receive  any  injury  from  the  English,  upon  complaint  in  due 
place  and  order,  satisfaction  shall  be  endeavored  them  accord- 
ing to  justice,  as  the  like  will  be  expected  from  them." 
When  the  Commissioners  met  at  Boston,  July  23,  1649, 
Warwick  wrote  again  to  them  ;  but  they  refused  to  do  any 
thing  for  their  defence,  till  they  could  find  under  what  colony 
their  plantation  fell ;  and  it  was  then  disputed  whether 
it  belonged  to  the  Massachusetts,  or  Plymouth ;  and  they 
advised  the  latter  to  take  it.  When  the  Commissioners  met 
again  at  Hartford,  September  5th,  1650,  they  received  a  let- 
ter from  Mr.  Easton,  President,  in  the  name  of  the  council 
of  that  colony,  in  which  he  declared,  that  "  Rhode  Island 
and  Warwick  were  combined  and  bound  mutually  to  sup- 
port one  another."  Upon  this  the  Commissioners  mention 
a  former  article  of  advice  which  they  had  received  from  the 
honorable  committee  of  parliament,  "  that  in  this  and  like 
cases  the  bounds  of  patents  should  be  first  set  out  by  a  jury, 
of  uninterested  persons,  and  that  all  inhabiting  within  the 
limits  so  set  forth,  should  fall  under  the  government  estab- 
lished by  patent."  But  instead  of  following  this  direction, 
after  mentioning  that  the  inhabitants  of  Warwick  claimed 
an  interest  in  Mr.  Williams's  patent,  and  refused  to  be 
brought  under  the  Massachusetts  government,  they  advised 
the  authority  of  Plymouth  "  forthwith  to  resume  [reassume] 
the  right  they  formerly  had  by  patent  to  the  place."  And 
that  if  the  inhabitants  refused  to  submit  to  them,  then  the 
advice  of  said  committee  should  be  taken,  and  if  the  same 
was  not  complied  with,  "  that  real  damages  duly  proved,  be 
levied  by  legal  force,  though  with  as  much  moderation  and 
tenderness  as  the  case  will  permit."1  This  was  the  treat- 
ment that  was  shown  to  Warwick;  and  hearing  of  what  Mr. 
Coddington  had  done,  they  joined  with  Providence  in  send- 

^ecords  of  the  United  Colonies. 


218  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ing  Mr.  Williams  to  England.  William  Arnold  hired  a 
messenger  secretly  to  carry  a  letter  to  Boston,  to  apprize 
their  rulers  of  it,1  but  they  were  notified  of  it  in  a  better 
way  ;  for  at  a  meeting  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  United 
Colonies  at  Xew  Haven,  September  4,  1651,  they  received 
the  following  letter,  viz. : — 

May  it  please  this  honored  committee  to  take  knowledge,  that  we,  the 
inhabitants  of  Shawomet  alias  Warwick,  having  undergone  divers  oppres- 
ions  and  wrongs,  amounting  to  great  damage  since  we  first  possessed  this 
place  ;  being  forced  thereby  to  seek  to  that  honorable  state  of  Old  England 
for  relief,  which  did  inevitably  draw  great  charge  upon  us,  to  the  further 
impairing  of  our  estates  ;  and  finding  favor  for  redress,  were  willing  to 
waive  for  that  time  (in  regard  to  the  great  troubles  and  employment  that 
then  lay  on  that  State)  all  other  lesser  wrongs  [other  losses  and  wrongs] 
we  then  underwent,  so  that  we  might  be  replaced  [replanted]  in  and  upon 
this  [that]  our  purchased  possession,  and  enjoy  it  peaceably  for  time  to 
come,  without  disturbance  or  molestation  by  those  from  whom  we  had  for- 
merly suffered.  But  since  our  gracious  grant  from  the  honorable  parlia- 
ment, in  replacing  [replanting]  of  us  in  this  place,  we  have  been  and  daily 
are  pressed  with  intolerable  grievances,  to  the  eating  up  of  our  labors,  and 
wasting  of  our  estates,  making  our  lives,  together  with  our  wives  and  chil- 
dren, bitter  and  uncomfortable  ;  insomuch,  that  groaning  under  our  bur- 
thens, we  are  constrained  to  make  our  address[es]  to  the  honorable  parlia- 
ment and  state,  once  again,  to  make  our  just  complaint  against  our  cause- 
less molesters,  wrho  by  themselves  and  their  agents,  are  the  only  cause  of 
this  our  reiittering  of  our  distressed  condition.  May  it  please  therefore 
this  honored  Assembly,  to  take  notice  of  this  our  solemn  intelligence  (given 
unto  you  as  the  most  public  authorized  society  appertaining  unto,  and'iusti- 
tuted  in  the  United  Colonies,  whom  our  complaints  do  concern)  that  we 
are  now  preparing  ourselves  with  all  convenient  speed  for  Old  England,  to 
make  our  grievances  known  again  to  the  state,  which  fall  upon  us  by  reason 
that  the  order  of  parliament  [of  England]  concerning  us  hath  not  been 
observed,  nor  the  enjoyment  of  our  granted  privileges  permitted  to  us,  thai 
we  are  as  it  were  bought  and  sold  from  one  patent  and  jurisdiction  to 
another ;  in  that  we  have  been  prohibited  and  charged  to  acquit  this 
place  since  the  order  of  parliament  given  out  and  known  to  the  contrary  ; 
in  that  we  have  had  warrants  sent  us,  to  summon  us  to  the  Massachusetts 
Court,  and  officers  employed  amongst  us  for  that  purpose  ;  in  that  these 
barbarous  Indians  about  us,  with  evil  minded  English  mixed  among  us, 
under   pretence   of  some  former  personal  subjection  to    the  government  of 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  237—239. 


[1651.]  WARWICK  APPEALS  TO  ENGLAND.  219 

the  Massachusetts  countenancing  of  them,  cease  not  to  kill  our  cattle,  offer 
violence  to  our  families,  vilify  authority  of  parliament  vouchsafed  to  us, 
justifying  their  practices  with  many  menances  and  threatenings,  as  being 
under  the  protection  of  the  Massachusetts  ;  in  that  we  [are  and]  have 
been  restrained  this  seven  or  eight  years  past  of  common  commerce  in  the 
country,  and  that  only  for  matters  of  conscience  ;  in  that  our  estates  for- 
merly taken  from  us  remain  yet  unrestored,  with  these  additions  thereunto. 
These  and  the  like  are  the  grounds  of  our  complaints,  with  our  serious 
desires  that  you  would  be  pleased  to  take  notice  of  them,  as  our  solemn 
intelligence  given  hereof,  that  as  yourselves  shall  think  meet,  you  may 
give  further  seasonable  intelligence  to  your  several  colonies  whom  it  may 
concern,  so  that  their  agent  or  agents  may  have  seasonable  instructions  to 
make  answer,  and  we  hereby  shall  acquit  ourselves,  that  we  offer  not  to 
proceed  in  these  our  complaints,  without  giviug  due  and  seasonable  notice 
thereof.  By  me, 

John  Greene,  Jun.,  Clerk. 
In  behalf  of  the  town  of  Warwick. 
Warwick,  the  first  of  September,  1651. 

This  brought  matters  to  a  close  trial  among  them  and  the 
Commissioners,  for  those  of  Massachusetts  (who  were  Mr. 
Simon  Bradstreet,  and  Mr.  William  Hathorne,  Esq'rs.)made  a 
long  declaration,  how  Plymouth  gave  up  their  right  in  that 
land  to  them  in  1643  ;  which  was  approved  by  all  the  Com- 
missioners, who  advised  them  to  proceed  against  Gorton  and 
his  company,  and  had  silently  assented  to  what  they  had 
done  from  time  to  time  since ;  and  that  when  in  1649  they 
were  advised  to  return  those  lands  back  to  Plymouth,  their 
Court  sent  two  deputies  to  the  Assembly  at  Plymouth,  with 
orders  to  offer,  to  "  resign  and  submit  the  said  [aforesaid] 
lands,  and  persons  residing  thereon  to  the  government  of 
Plymouth  ;  they  only  promising  to  do  equal  justice  both  to 
English  and  Indians  there,  according  to  our  engagements  ; 
but  the  government  of  Plymouth  chose  rather  to  ratify  the 
aforesaid  resignment  of  their  Commissioners  ;"  after  which 
they  had  "  out  of  their  own  treasury  allowed  a  large  gratu- 
ity [quantity]  of  corn  to  the  Indians  under  their  government 
there,  to  keep  them  alive,  the  cattle  of  Gorton's  company 
having  destroyed  most  of  theirs,  rather  than  force  to   com- 


220  IIISTOKY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

pel  them,  till  all  other  means  and  ways  of  prudence  for 
issuing  these  and  the  like  differences  were  used."  They 
closed  with  asking  what  aid  the  other  jurisdictions  would 
afford  them,  for  the  righting  their  injured  and  oppressed 
people,  and  bringing  delinquents  to  condign  punishment. 
The  Connecticut  aud  New  Haven  Commissioners  answered, 
by  owning  that  they  had  their  advice  in  1643,  to  proceed 
against  Gorton's  company,  and  that  when  Plymouth  Com- 
missioners yielded  up  their  right  to  the  Massachusetts,  the 
others,  being  neither  concerned,  nor  understanding  where 
the  right  lay,  saw  no  cause  to  dissent,  &c.  The  Commis- 
sioners for  Plymouth  (who  were  Mr.  John  Brown,  and  Mr. 
Timothy  Hatherley  (declared  that  what  was  done  by  the 
Commissioners  for  their  colony  in  16 ±3,  in  resigning  said 
lands  to  the  Massachusetts,  was  not  at  all  in  their  power, 
neither  could  the  Massachusetts  receive  any  such  resigna- 
tion without  injuring  the  third  and  sixth  articles  of  their 
confederation  ;  and  that  what  right  the  authority  of  the 
Massachusetts  had  to  send  for  Samuel  Gorton  and  company, 
"  inhabiting  so  far  out  of  their  jurisdiction  they  understand 
not."  As  to  what  the  Governor  of  Plymouth  and  some 
others  did  in  1650,  about  ratifying  that  former  resignation 
of  Warwick  to  the  Massachusetts,  they  said  they  had  "  pro- 
tested against  it  in  the  Court  of  Plymouth,  as  being  directly 
contrary  to  the  order  of  the  honorable  committee  of  the 
parliament  of  England,  and  contrary  to  the  articles  of  con- 
federations with  the  rest  of  the  colonies.  "  And  whereas 
we  are  informed,  that  the  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  have 
lately  sent  out  several  [summons  or]  warrants  to  several  per- 
sons inhabiting  [Shawomet,  alias]  Warwick  and  Pawtuxet, 
and  have  made  seizure  upon  some  of  their  estates,  we  do 
hereby  protest  against  such  proceedings  if  any  there  be."1 
Those  in  Massachusetts  were  so  unwilling  to  have  these 
things  laid  before  the  parliament,  that  they  put  Mr.  Williams 

'Records  of  the  United  Colonics. 


[1651.]  MR.  CLAEKE  SENT  TO  ENGLAND.  221 

to  great  distress   only  for  attempting  to  take  his  passage 
through  their  colony. 

The  town  of  Newport  signed  an  engagement  and  request 
to  Mr  Clarke  in  these  words  : — 

We  whose  names  are  here  underwritten,1  being  resolved  to  make  our 
address  unto  the  parliament  of  England,  in  point  of  our  lands  and  liberties, 
do  earnestly  desire  those  six  men  that  were  last  chosen  the  council  of  the 
town  of  Newport,  and  such  as  they  shall  consult  with,  to  improve  their 
best  abilities  for  the  managing  thereof.  We  also  do  earnestly  request  Mr. 
John  Clarke  to  do  his  utmost  endeavors  in  soliciting  our  cause  in  England  ; 
and  we  do  hereby  engage  ourselves  to  the  utmost  of  our  estates  to  assist 
them,  being  resolved  in  the  mean  time  peaceably  to  yield  all  due  subjection 
unto  the  present  power  set  over  us.  Witness  our  hands  the  loth  of  Octo- 
ber, in  the  year  of  our  Lord,  God,  1651. 

He  sailed  for  England  the  next  month. 

Mr.  Coddington  having  gotten  the  command  of  the  islands, 
Providence  and  Warwick,  each  chose  six  deputies,  who  met 
at  Providence,  November  4,  and  unanimously  concluded  to 
stand  embodied  and  incorporated  as  before,  by  virtue  of  their 
charter ;  and  as  president  Easton  had  given  place  to  Mr. 
Coddington,  they  chose  another  in  his  room,  and  made  sev- 
eral laws,  one  of  which  was  to  prohibit  any  from  purchas- 
ing lands  of  the  Indians,  without  the  Assembly's  approba- 
tion, on  penalty  of  forfeiting  the  same  to  the  colony.  When 
those  two  agents  arrived  in  England,  they  united  in  a 
petition  to  the  council  of  state,  who  on  April  8th,  1652, 
referred  the  same  to  the  Committee  for  Foreign  Affairs.  The 
Court  of  election  at  Warwick,  May  18,  made  a  law  to  forbid 

'This  was  signed  by  John  Easton,  James  Barker,  John  Cranston,  Robert  Carr, 
John  Sheldon,  Samuel  Hubbard,  John  Allen,  Henry  Bull,  Edward  Thurston, 
Nathaniel  West,  William  Dyre,  William  Lytherland,  Eichard  Knight,  Thomas 
Clarke,  Thomas  Dungan,  &c,  to  the  number  of  sixty-five,  who  with  the  six  coun- 
sellors were  almost  all  the  free  inhabitants  of  Newport,  as  Mr.  Clarke  said  afterward 
to  their  General  Assembly.  Forty-one  of  the  inhabitants  of  Portsmouth  signed  a  like 
request.     Copied  from  the  original  papers  now  before  me. 

Many  of  the  above  men  were  afterwards  noted  rulers  in  that  colony ;  and  Mr. 
Dungan  was  a  member  of  Mr.  Clarke's  church,  till  about  the  year  1684 ;  when  he 
went  to  Pennsylvania,  and  became  the  first  Baptist  minister  in  that  colony,  where  he 
left  a  numerous  posterity.     Edwards's  History  of  the  Baptists  in  that  colony,  p.  10. 


222     HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  Dutch  who  were  not  inhabitants  among  them,  from 
trading  with  the  Indians  in  this  colony,  upon  penalty  of  for- 
feiting both  goods  and  vessel  to  the  colony  if  they  did ;  and 
the  president  was  ordered  to  give  the  Governor  of  Manha- 
toes  notice  of  it.  When  their  Assembly  met  again  in  the 
fall  at  Providence,  they  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Mr. 
Williams,  viz. : — 

Honored  Sir  : — We  may  not  neglect  any  opportunity  to  salute  you  in 
your  absence,  and  have  not  a  little  cause  to  bless  God,  who  hath  pleased  to 
select  you  to  such  a  purpose,  as  we  doubt  not  but  will  conduce  to  the 
peace  and  safety  of  us  all,  as  to  make  you  once  more  au  instrument  to 
impart  and  disclose  our  cause  unto  those  noble  and  grave  senators  our  hon- 
orable protectors,  in  whose  eyes  God  hath  given  you  honor  [favor]  (as  we 
understand)  beyond  our  hopes,  and  moved  the  hearts  of  the  wise  to  stir  on 
your  behalf.  We  give  you  hearty  thanks  for  your  care  and  diligence,  to 
watch  all  opportunities  to  promote  our  peace,  for  we  perceive  your  prudent 
and  comprehensive  mind  stirreth  every  stone  to  present  it  unto  to  the  build- 
ers, to  make  firm  the  fabric  unto  us  about  which  you  are  employed,  labor- 
ing to  unweave  such  irregular  devices  wrought  by  others  amongst  us,  as 
have  formerly  clothed  us  with  so  sad  events,  as  the  subjection  of  some 
amongst  us,  both  English  and  Indian  to  other  jurisdictions  ;  as  also  to  pre- 
vent such  near  approach  of  our  neighbors  upon  our  borders  on  the 
Narragansett  side,  which  might  much  annoy  us,  with  your  endeavors  to 
furnish  us  with  such  ammunition  as  to  look  a  foreign  enemy  in  the  face, 
being  that  the  cruel  begin  to  stir  in  these  western  parts,  and  to  unite  in  one 
again,  such  as  of  late  have  had  seeming  separation  in  some  respects  ;  to 
encourage  and  strengthen  our  weak  and  enfeebled  body  to  perform  its  work 
in  these  foreign  parts,  to  the  honor  of  such  as  take  care,  have  been,  and 
are  so  tender  of  our  good,  though  we  be  unworihy  to  be  had  in  remem- 
brance by  persons  of  so  noble  places,  indued  with  parts  of  so  excellent  and 
honorable  and  abundantly  beneficial  use. 

Sir,  give  us  leave  to  intimate  thus  much,  that  we  humbly  conceive  (so 
far  as  we  are  able  to  understand)  that  if  it  be  the  pleasure  of  our  protec- 
tors to  renew  our  charter  for  the  re-establishing  of  our  government,  that  it 
might  tend  much  to  the  weighing  of  men's  minds,  and  subjecting  of  per- 
sons who  have  been  refractory,  to  yield  themselves  over  as  unto  a  settled 
government,  if  it  might  be  the  pleasure  of  that  honorable  state,  to  invest, 
appoint  and  empower  yourself  to  come  over  as  Governor  of  this  colony  for 
the  space  of  one  year,  and  so  the  government  to  be  honorably  put  upon 
this  place,  which  might  seem  to  add  much  weight  forever  hereafter  in  the 
constant  and    successive    derivation  of  the  same.     We  only  present  it  to 


[1652.]  CIVIL  AFFAIRS  OF   RHODE  ISLAND.  223 

your  deliberate  thoughts  and  consideration,  with  our  hearty  desires  that 
your  time  of  stay  there  for  the  effectual  perfecting  and  finishing  of  your 
so  weighty  affairs  may  not  seem  tedious,  nor  be  any  discouragement  unto 
you  ;  and  rather  than  you  shall  suffer  for  loss  of  time  here,  or  expense 
there,  we  are  resolved  to  stretch  forth  our  hands  at  your  return  beyond  our 
strength  for  your  supply.  Your  loving  bed-fellow  is  in  health,  and  presents 
her  endeared  affection  ;  so  are  all  your  family.  Mr.  Sayles  also  his, 
with  the  rest  of  your  friends  throughout  the  colony,  who  wish  and  desire 
earnestly  to  see  your  face. 

Sir,  we  are  yours,  leaving  you  unto  the  Lord,  we  heartily  take  leave. 

From  the   General  Assembly  of  this  colony  of  Providence  Plantations, 
assembled  in  the  town  of  Providence  the  28th  of  October,  1652.1 

John  Greene,  General  Recorder. 

On  the  2d  of  October,  the  Council  of  State  gave  an  order 
and  wrote  letters  to  vacate  Mr.  Coddington's  commission, 
and  to  confirm  their  former  charter ;  which  were  sent  over 
by  William  Dyre.  And  about  the  16th  of  February,  1653, 
he  brought  a  letter  to  Providence,  signed  by  Messrs.  Sanford, 
Baulston,  Porter  and  William  Jefferies,  requesting  the  two 
towns  on  the  main  to  appoint  a  time  to  meet  those  on  the 
Island,  to  hear  and  act  upon  the  State's  letters.  Providence 
met  upon  the  affair,  and  inquired  why  those  letters  were  not 
brought  to  them,  seeing  they  had  continued  to  act  upon  the 
charter,  after  the  Island  was  parted  from  them  ]  Dyre  tolcf 
them  that  the  two  agents  had  united  in  their  petition,  and 
that  as  it  appeared  to  him  that  the  Island  was  the  major  part 
of  the  colony,  therefore  they  had  the  greatest  interest  in  the 
letters,  and  he  had  left  them  there.  President  Smith,  Wil- 
liam Field,  and  some  others,  joined  with  Dyre,  and  strove  to 
persuade  them  to  "  account  themselves  a  disordered,  con- 
fused rout,  as  he  acknowledged  the  islanders  were,  and  to 
account  all  officers'  orders  of  court,  laws  and  cases  depend- 
ing, as  null,  and  to  come  to  a  popular  meeting  to  lay  a  new 
foundation  of  government  for  the  colony."  This  they  could 
not  consent  to,  but  each  town  chose  six  commissioners  who 
met  at  Pawtuxet  on  February  25th,  and   sent  four  messen- 

'  Providence  Records. 


224  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

gers  to  the  Island  for  those  letters  or  a  copy  of  them ;  and 
that  if  the  state's  orders  were  for  them  all  to  unite  again, 
then  to  agree  upon  a  meeting  for  that  purpose.  Dyre  seeing 
no  other  way  to  carry  his  own  scheme,  assumed  the  power 
to  himself  to  call  the  whole  colony  together  by  the  follow- 
ing instrument : — 

Loving  friends  and  neighbors,  these  are  to  signify  unto  you,  that  it  hath 
pleased  the  right  honorable,  the  Council  of  State,  authorized  by  the  supreme 
authority  of  the  commonwealth  of  England  to  betrust  myself  with  letters 
and  orders  concerning  this  colony,  aud  the  welfare  thereof;  be  pleased 
therefore  to  understand,  that  upon  Tuesday  come  seven  night,  at  Ports- 
mouth on  Rhode  Island,  at  Mr.  Baulston's  house,  I  shall  be  there  (God 
willing)  ready  to  attend  the  communication  of  the  trust  committed  to  my 
charge,  unto  all  such  free  inhabitants  as  shall  there  make  their  personal 
appearance.  Given  under  my  hand  this  present  6th  day  of  the  week,  being 
the  18th  of  February,  1652. 

William  Dyre.1 

A  copy  of  this  he  sent  to  each  town,  and  many  of  the 
freemen  met  on  the  said  March  first,  but  instead  of  throw- 
ing all  up,  they  ordered,  "  that  all  officers  who  were  in 
place  when  Mr.  Coddington's  commission  obstructed,  should 
stand  in  their  places,  to  act  according  to  their  former  com- 
missions, upon  the  Island  ;  and  the  rest  in  the  colony  accord- 
ing as  they  had  been  annually  chosen,  until  a  new  election 
according  to  former  order."  The  Commissioners  met  again 
at  Pawtuxet  on  March  9th,  to  receive  the  answer  of  their 
messengers  from  the  Island,  who  reported  what  was  done, 
but  that  they  could  not  obtain  so  much  as  a  copy  of  those 
letters  from  England.  Upon  which  they  sent  again  there- 
for, and  also  a  proposal  of  joining  with  the  towns  on  the 
Island  in  the  next  election,  if  they  would  agree  to  it  in  their 

'This  document,  together  with  many  others  relating  to  the  early  history  of  Rhode 
Island,  was  copied  for  Backus  by  David  Howell,  then  Professor  in  Rhode  Island 
College,  afterwards  Judge  in  the  United  States'  Court.  The  manuscript  is  among 
the  Backus  papers  in  the  lihrary  of  the  Backus  Historical  Society.  Appended  to 
the  ahove  document  are  the  words,  "  This  the  town  of  Providence  in  their  letter  to 
R.  W.  [Roger  Williams],  Agent  in  England,  call  Dyre' s  Mandamus.  His  conduct 
herein  gave  great  offence  to  Providence  and  Warwick." — Ed. 


[1653.]  AFFAIRS  IN  RHODE  ISLAND  COLONY.  225 

former  method,  and  give  them  ten  days'  notice.  By  some 
means  such  notice  was  not  giveu,  therefore  the  two  towns 
on  the  main  met  at  Providence,  May  17th,  1653,  and  elected 
their  officers.  An  assembly  met  at  the  same  time  on  the 
Island,  and  chose  Mr.  Sanford  their  President,  and  some 
freemen  coming  from  the  main,  they  chose  an  Assistant  for 
each  town  in  the  colony  ;  and  they  sent  Mr.  James  Barker, 
and  Mr.  Eichard  Knight  to  Mr.  Coddington,  to  demand  the 
statute  book,  and  book  of  records.  And  as  it  was  then  a 
time  of  war  betwixt  England  and  Holland,  and  mention  was 
made  of  it  in  the  letters  which  confirmed  their  charter,  Dyre 
thought  to  make  his  advantage  thereby,  and  procured  com- 
missions for  himself,  Captain  Underhill,  and  Edward  Hull  to 
act  against  the  Dutch  in  America  ;  and  some  cannon  with 
twenty  men  were  sent  to  the  English1  on  the  east  end  of 
Long  Island,  to  enable  them  to  act  against  the  Dutch  who 
lay  to  the  westward  of  them.  This  alarmed  Providence  colo- 
ny, who  met  again  in  June,  and  a  third  time  at  "Warwick,  on 
August  13th,  when  they  answered  a  letter  from  the  Massa- 
chusetts, and  remonstrated  against  being  drawn  into  a  war 
with  the  Dutch  ;2  and  wrote  to  Mr.  Williams  an  account  of 
Dyre's  conduct,  and  of  their  being  urged  to  give  up  their 
former  actings  as  null ;  but  say  they,  "  being  still  in  the  same 
order  you  left  us,  and  observing  two  great  evils  that  such  a 
course  would  bring  upon  us  ;  first,  the  hazard  of  involving 
in  all  the  disorders  and  bloodshed  which  have  been  com- 
mitted on  Rhode  Island  since  their  separation  from  us ; 
secondly,  the  invading  and  frustrating  of  justice  in  divers 
weighty  causes  then  orderly  depending  in  our  courts,  in 
some  of  which  causes  Mr.  Smith,  President,  William  Field, 
&c,  were  deeply  concerned;"  therefore  they  could  not  yield 
to  such  a  notion.3 

'"They  shall  have  two  great  guns  and  what  murtherers  are  with  us,  on  promise  of 
returning  them."     R.  I.  Colonial  Records. — Ed. 

2The  remonstrance  was  made  in  June ;    the  letter  to  Massachusetts  was   written 
in  August.     R.  I.  Colonial  Records. — Ed. 

3Callender,  [p.  99.  ]     Colony  Records.     To  give  a  clear  idea  of  their  difficulties 
I  would  insert  the  following  things  : — 
15 


226  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Before  we  proceed  further  upon  their  affairs,  some  trans- 
actions in  the  Massachusetts  call  for  our  attention.  Their 
ministers  have  often  tried  to  persuade  people,  that  ignorance 
of  the  original  languages  in  which  our  Bihle  was  written,  is 

"The  24th  of  the  first  month  called  March,  in  the  year  (so  commonly  called) 
1637-8,  Memorandum,  that  we  Canonicus  and  Miantinomo,  the  two  chief  sachems 
of  the  Narragansetts,  by  virtue  of  our  general  command  of  this  Bay,  as  also  the  par- 
ticular subjecting  of  the  dead  sachems  of  Aquedneck  and  Kitackamuckqut,  them- 
selves and  lands  unto  us,  have  sold  to  [unto]  Mr.  Coddington  and  his  friends  united 
unto  him,  the  great  island  of  Aquedneck,  laying  [from]hence  eastward  in  this  Bay, 
as  also  the  marsh  or  grass  upon  Quinunnuqut,  and  the  rest  of  the  islands  in  this 
bay  (excepting  Chibachuwesa  [Prudence]  formerly  sold  to  [unto]  Mr.  Winthrop, 
the  now  Governor  of  the  Massachusetts,  and  Mr.  Williams  of  Providence)  also  the 
grass  upon  the  rivers  and  bounds  [coves]  about  Kitackamuckqut,  and  from 
thence  [these]  to  Paupusquatch,  for  the  full  payment  of  forty  fathoms  of  white 
beads,  to  be  equally  divided  between  us ;  in  witness  whereof  we  have  here  sub- 
scribed. Item,  that  by  giving,  by  Miantonomo's  hands,  ten  coats  and  twenty  hoes 
to  the  present  inhabitants,  they  shall  remove  themselves  from  cff  the  Island  before 
next  winter. 

In  presence  of,  Witness  our  hands, 

The  mark  X  of  Yotuesh,  The  mark  f  of  Canonicus, 

Roger  Williams,  The  mark  J  of  Miantinomo." 

Randal  Holden, 
The  mark  X  of  Assotemuit, 
The  mark  ||  of  Mishammoh, 
Canonicus  his  son. 
"  Memorandum,  that  I,  Osamaquin  freely  consent  that  Mr.  William  Coddington, 
and  his  friends  united  unto  him,  shall  make  use  of  any  grass  or  trees  on  the  main 
land  on  Pawakasick  side,  and  I  do  promise  loving  [and  just]  carriage  of  myself  and 
all  my  men  to  the  said  Mr.  Coddington,    and  English,    his   friends  united  to  him, 
having  received  of  Mr.  Coddington  five  fathoms  of  wampum,  as  gratuity  for  [from] 
himself  and  the  rest. 

W't  ess  5  K°GER  Williams,  The  mark  X  of  Osamaquin. 

'  (.  Randal  Holden. 
Dated  the  sixth  day  of  the  fifth  month,  1638. 

These  deeds,  with  a  number  of  receipts  from  the  Indians,  are  upon  the  colony 
records  which  Mr.  Coddington  had  in  his  power  when  he  obtained  a  commission  to 
be  their  Governor  without  the  people's  consent,  and  when  they  contended  hotly 
with  him,  it  seems  that  he  fled  to  Boston,  where  they  sent  after  him,  and  prevailed 
with  him  to  sign  an  engagement  on  April  14th,  1652,  in  the  presence  of  Robert 
Knight  and  George  Manning,  to  deliver  up  said  deeds  and  records  to  such  men  as 
the  majority  of  the  purchasers  and  freemen  should  appoint  to  receive  them,  and  to 
claim  no  more  to  himself  than  an  equal  share  with  the  other  purchasers.  And  the 
above  record  shows  that  he  had  those  deeds  in  his  hands  till  May.  1653.  The  main 
instance  of  bloodshed  above  referred  to,  was  of  a  principal  inhabitant  of  Newport, 
who  was  charged  with  a  capital  crime  before  a  town  meeting,  and  was  condemned 
by  them,  and  carried  forth  and  shot  to  deatli  in  their  presence.  History  of  Provi- 
dence.    [Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  Second  series,  Vol.  IX,  p.  184.] 


[1653.]  PRESIDENT  DUHSTAR.  227 

the  cause  why  any  embrace  Baptist  principles.  How  well 
this  agrees  with  their  fear  of  a  fair  dispute  with  the  learned 
Mr.  Clarke  the  reader  will  judge,  and  what  follows  may 
afford  further  light. 

Captain  Johnson,  speaking  of  the  first  president  of  Har- 
vard College,  says,  that  he  was  -'fitted  from  the  Lord  for  the 
work.  and.  by  those  that  have  skill  that  way.  reported  to  be 
an  able  proficient  both  in  the  Hebrew.  Greek  and  Latin  lan- 
guages, an  orthodox  preacher  of  the  truths  of  Christ,  and 
very  powerful  through  his  blessing  to  move  the  affections."1 
Mr.  Hubbard  speaking  of  Mr.  Dunstar's  being  made  presi- 
dent in  1640.  says.  "  Under  whom,  that  which  was  before 
but  at  best  scJwla  illustra.  grew  to  the  stature  and  perfection 
of  a  College,  and  flourished  in  the  profession  of  all  liberal 
sciences  for  many  years."  And  Mr.  Prince,  upon  the  New 
England  Psalm  Book.  says.  t;  For  a  further  improvement  it 
was  committed  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Henry  Dunstar.  president  of 
Harvard  College  ;  oue  of  the  greatest  masters  of  the  oriental 
languages,  that  hath  been  known  in  these  ends  of  the 
earth."2 

Johnson,  p.  168. 

2Prinee's  preface  to  hi?  own  version  of  the  psalms. — B. 

'•Among  the  early  friends  of  the  college  none  deserves  more  distinct  notice  than 
Henry  Dunstar.  He  united  in  himself  the  character  of. both  patron  and  President; 
for,  poor  as  he  was.  he  contributed,  at  a  time  of  its  utmost  need,  one  hundred  acres 
of  land  towards  its  support,  besides  rendering  to  it  for  a  succession  of  years  a  series 
of  official  services  well  directed,  unwearied  and  altogether  inestimable.  Under  his 
administration  the  first  code  of  laws  was  formed,  rules  of  admission,  and  the  prin- 
ciples on  which  degrees  should  be  granted,  were  established The  charter   of 

1642,  was  probably,  and  that  of  1650  was  avowedly  obtained  on  his  petition.  By 
solicitations  among  his  personal  friends,  and  by  personal  sacrifices  he  built  the 
President's  house.  He  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  with  the  General 
Court  for  the  relief  of  the  College  in  its  extreme  wants 

••  Dunstar's  usefulness  however  was  deemed  to  be  at  an  end  and  his  services  no 
longer  desirable,  in  consequence  of  his  falling  in  1653.  as  Cotton  Mather  expresses  it, 
'into  the  briars  of  anti-pa?dobaptism.'  and  of  his  having  borne  'public  testimony  in  the 
church  at  Cambridge  against  the  administration  of  baptism  to  any  infant  whatever.' 

....  Indicted  by  the  grand  jury  for  disturbing  the  ordinance  of  infant  baptism  in 
the  Cambridge  church,  sentenced  to  a  public  admonition  on  lecture  day.  and  laid 
under  bonds  for  good    behavior,  Dunstar's   martyrdom  was    consummated  by  being 

compelled  in  October,  1654,  to  resign  his  office  of  President He  found   the 

seminary  a  school,  it  rose  under  his  auspices  to  the  dignity  of  a  college.  No 
man  ever  questioned  Ms  talents,  learning,  exemplary  fidelity,  and  usefulness.' 
Quincy's  History  of  Harvard  University,  Vol.  I,  pp.  15 — 18. — Ed. 


228  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS    IX   NEW  ENGLAND. 

This  eminent  man  was  brought  so  far  this  year  that,  "  he 
not  only  forbore  to  present  an  infant  of  his  own  unto  bap- 
tism, but  also  thought  himself  under  some  obligation  to  bear 
his  testimony  in  some  sermons,  against  the  administration  of 
baptism  to  any  infant  whatsoever."  His  brethren  were  so 
vehement  and  violent  against  him  therefor,  as  to  desire  him 
to  cease  preaching  there,  and  procured  his  removal  both 
from  his  office  and  from  his  living  in  the  town  ;*  and  Mr. 
Jonathan  Mitchell,  their  minister  at  Cambridge,  wrote 
December  24th,  1653: — 

That  day  after  I  came  from  him,  I  had  a  strange  experience  ;  I  fouud 
hurrying  and  pressing  suggestions  agaiust  p;edobaptism,  and  iujected 
scruples  and  thoughts  whether  the  other  way  might  not  be  right,  and  infant 
baptism  an  invention  of  men,  and  whether  I  might  with  good  conscience 
baptize  children,  and  the  like.  And  these  thoughts  were  darted  in  with 
some  impression,  and  left  a  strange  confusion  and  sickliness  upon  my  spirit. 
Yet  methought,  it  was  not  hard  to  discern  that  they  were  from  the  evil  one. 
First,  because  they  were  rather  injected,  hurryiug  suggestions,  than  any 
deliberate  thoughts,  or  bringing  any  light  with  them.  Secondly,  because 
they  were  unseasonable  ;  interrupting  me  in  my  study  for  the  sabbath,  and 
putting  my  spirit  into  [a]  confusion,  so  I  had  much  ado,  to  do  ought  in  my 
sermon.  It  was  not  now  a  time  to  study  that  matter ;  but  when  in  the 
former  part  of  the  week,  I  had  given  myself  to  that  study,  the  more  I 
studied  it,  the  more  clear  and  rational   light  I  saw  for  pa3dobaptism,  but 

now  these  suggestions  hurried  me  into  scruples It  was  a  check  to  my 

former  self-confidence,  aud  it  made  me  fearful  to  go  needlessly  to  Mr.  D., 
for  methought  I  found  a  venom  and  poison,  in  his  insinuations  aud  dis- 
courses against  paedobaptism I  resolved  also  on  Mr.  Hooker's  princi- 
ple, that  I  would  have  an  argument,  able  to  remove  a  mountain,  before  I 
would  recede  from,  or  appear  against  a  truth  or  practice  received  among 
the  faithful.2 

Query.  How  did  he  know  but  that  his  hurry  and  darkness 
was  caused  by  the  opposition  of  his  heart,  and  the  injec- 
tions of  the  devil  against  the  truth  ?  Can  anything  be  more 
unreasonable  than  his  conclusion  drawn  from  the  time  of  his 

'Governor  Dudley  died  July  31,  1G53,  with  these  lines  in  his  pocket,  viz.  : — 
u  Let  men  of  God  in  courts  and  churehes  watch 
O'er  inch  as  do  a  toleration  hatch. " 

'Mitchell's  Life,  pp.  C7— 70.     [Magnalia,  Vol.  II,  p.  79.] 


[1653,]  PRESIDENT  CHAUNCY.  229 

scruples  1  The  fact  was  just  this  ;  iu  his  own  study  he 
thought  he  saw  a  light  for  infant  baptism,  but  when  he  came 
to  converse  with  a  gentleman  who  knew  more  than  he  did, 
it  raised  scruples  in  his  mind  about  that  practice.  But 
where  was  the  modesty  of  a  youth  not  thirty  years  old,  when 
he  accused  one  of  the  most  venerable  fathers  of  that  age, 
of  having  venom  and  poison  in  his  discourses,  only  because 
his  own  self-confidence  was  shocked  thereby?  Sure  I  am 
that  if  any  Baptist  minister  had  told  such  a  story,  and  that 
it  made  him  fearful  of  going  near  a  learned  gentleman, 
whose  arguments  had  brought  him  to  scruple  whether  he 
had  not  been  educated  in  a  wrong  way,  but  that  he  was  re- 
solved to  have  an  argument  able  to  work  miracles  before  he 
would  leave  it,  the  other  party  would  then  have  had  such 
grounds,  to  charge  the  Baptist  with  wilfulness  and  obstinacy 
as  they  never  yet  had. 

Rigidness  is  a  word  that  both  Episcopalians  and  Presby- 
terians have  often  cast  upon  our  Plymouth  fathers.  Yet  the 
Massachusetts  now  discovered  so  much  more  of  that  temper 
than  they,  that  Mr.  Dunstar,  on  October  24,  1654,  resigned 
his  office  among  them,  and  removed  and  spent  his  remain- 
ing days  at  Scituate,  in  Plymouth  colony.  And  it  "eems 
remarkable  that  Mr.  Charles  Chauncy  who,  though  he 
allowed  believers  to  bring  their  infants,  yet  held  that  bap- 
tism was  dipping,  was,  on  the  27th  of  November  fol- 
lowing, made  president  of  Harvard  College  in  Mr.  Dun- 
star's  room.1  Mr.  Chauncy  was  born  in  Hartfordshire,  in 
1589  ;  was  educated  in  the  university  of  Cambridge  ;  "  was 
incomparably  well  skilled  in  all  the  learned  languages, 
especially  in  the  oriental,  and  eminently  in  the  Hebrew  ;  in 
obtaining  whereof  his  conversation  with  a  Jew  for  the  space 
of  a  year,  was  no  little  advantage.2  He  was  successful  in  the 
ministry  at  Ware,  in  England,  till,  being  persecuted,  and 
having  suffered  much  from  Laud's   party,  he  came   to   Ply- 

^lagnalia,  Book  IV,  p.  128.  [Vol.  II,  p.  10.]     2Ibid,  Vol.  I,  p.  419.— Ed. 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

mouth  in  1638;  in  which  place  he  preached  about  two 
years,  and  then,  as  has  been  noted,  he  removed  and  settled 
at  Scituate,  where,  upon  his  taking  the  charge  of  that  flock, 
he  preached  from  that  text,  "  Wisdom  hath  sent  forth  her 
maidens !"  and  reflecting  in  his  discourse  upon  some  com- 
pliances with  the  High  Commission  Court  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  in  his  own  country,  he,  with  tears  said,  "Alas,  Chris- 
tians, I  am  no  maiden !  my  soul  hath  been  defiled  with  false 
worship  !  how  wondrous  is  the  free  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  I  should  still  be  employed  among  the  maidens 
of  wisdom  !"  Upon  an  invitation  from  his  old  people  at 
Ware,  he  now  came  to  Boston,  with  a  design  of  returning 
to  them,  when  the  overseers  of  the  college,  "  by  their  vehe- 
ment importunity  prevailed  with  him  to  accept  the  govern- 
ment of  that  society."1  Here  we  will  leave  him,  till  we  shall 
have  further  occasion  to  mention  his  testimony  against  degen- 
eracy in  our  land. 

Mr.  Williams  had  many  enemies  and  difficulties  to  encoun- 
ter in  pleading  for  the  rights  of  his  colony,  but  was  wonder- 
fully supported  and  carried  through  them  all ;  of  which  some 
account  is  given  in  the  following  letter  :  — 

From  Sir  Henry  Vane's  at  Belleau,  Lincolnshire. 

April  1st,  '53  (so  called.) 

My  Dear  and  Loving  Friends  and  Neighbors  of  Providence  and 
Warwick  : — Our  noble  friend  Sir  Henry  Vane,  having  the  navy  of  Eng- 
land mostly  depending  on  his  care,  and  going  down  to  the  navy  at  Ports- 
mouth, I  was  invited  by  them  both  to  accompany  his  lady  to  Lincolnshire, 
where  I  shall  yet  stay  as  I  fear  until  the  ship  is  gone  ;  I  must  therefore  pray 
your  pardou  that  by  the  post  I  send  this  to  Loudon.  I  hope  it  may  have 
pleased  the  most  high  Lord  of  sea  and  land  to  bring  Capt.  Ch-rst-n's  ship 
and  dear  Mr.  Dyre  unto  you,  aud  with  him  the  council's  letters,  which 
answer  the  petition  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  myself  drew  up,  and  the  council 
by  Sir  Henry's  mediation  granted  us,  for  the  confirmation  of  the  charter, 
until  the  determination  of  the  controversy.  This  determination  you  may 
please  to  understand  ia  hindered  by  two  main  obstructions.  The  first  is 
the  mighty  war  with  the  Dutch,  which  makes  England  and  Holland  and 
the  nations  [to]  tremble.     This  hath  made  the   parliament  set  Sir  Henry 

'Magnalia,  Book  IV,  pp.  134—130.  [Vol.  I,  pp.  120— 122.] 


[1653.]  WILLIAMS'S  LETTER  TO  VANE.  231 

Vane  and  two  or  three  more  as  commissioners  to  manage  the  war,  which 
they  have  done  with  much  engaging  the  name  of  God  with  them,  who 
hath  appeared  in  helping  [of]  sixty  of  ours  against  almost  three  hundred  of 
their  men-of-war,  and  perchance  to  the  sinking  aud  taking  about  one  hun- 
dred of  theirs,  and  but  one  of  ours  which  was  sunk  by  our  own  men.  Our 
second  obstruction  is  the  opposition  of  our  adversaries,  Sir  Arthur  Hasel- 
rig  and  Colonel  Fenwicke,  who  hath  married  his  daughter,  Mr.  Winslow1 
and  Mr.  Hopkins,  both  in  great  place  ;  and  all  the  friends  they  can  make 
in  the  parliament  and  council,  and  all  the  priests  both  Presbyterian  and 
Independent ;  so  that  we  stand  as  two  armies  ready  to  engage,  observing 
the  motions  and  postures  each  of  other,  and  yet  shy  each  of  other.  Under 
God  the  sheet  anchor  of  our  ship  is  Sir  Henry,  who  will  do  as  the  eye  of 
God  leads  him,  and  he  faithfully  promised  me  that  he  would  observe  the 
motion  of  our  New  England  business,  while  I  stayed  some  ten  weeks  with 
his  lady  in  Lincolnshire.  Besides  here  is  [are]  great  thoughts  and  prepar- 
ation for  a  new  parliament ;  some  of  our  friends  are  apt  to  think  another 
parliament  will  more  favor  us  and  our  cause  than  this  has  done.  You  may 
please  to  put  my  condition  into  your  souls'  cases  ;  remember,  I  am  a  father 
and  an  husband ;  I  have  longed  earnestly  to  return  with  the  last  ship,  and 
with  these,  yet  I  have  not  been  willing  to  withdraw  my  shoulders  from  the 
burthen  lest  it  pinch  others,  and  may  fall  heavy  upon  all ;  except  you  are 
pleased  to  give  to  me  a  discharge.  If  you  conceive  it  necessary  for  me 
still  to  attend  this  service,  pray  you  consider  if  it  be  not  convenient  that 
my  poor  wife  be  encouraged  to  come  over  to  me,  and  to  wait  together  on 
the  good  pleasure  of  God  for  the  end  of  this  matter.  You  know  my  many 
weights  hanging  on  me,  how  my  own  place  stands,  and  how  many  reasons 
I  have  to  cause  me  to  make  haste,  yet  I  would  not  lose  their  estates,  peace 
and  liberty  [liberties]  by  leaving  hastily.  I  wrote  to  my  dear  wife,  my 
great  desire  of  her  coming  while  I  stay  ;  yet  left  it  to  the  freedom  of  her 
spirit,  because  of  the  many  dangers.  Truly  at  present  the  seas  are  danger- 
ous, but  not  comparably  so  much  nor  likely  to  be,  because  of  the  late  great 
defeat  of  the  Dutch,  and  their  present  sending  to  us  offers  of  peace.  My 
dear  friends  although  it  pleased  God  himself,  by  many  favors  to  encourage 
me,  yet  please  you  to  remember,  that  no  man  can  stay  here  as  I  do,  leav- 
in  a  present  employment  there,  without  much  self-denial,  which  I  beseech 
God  for  more,  aud  for  you  also,  that  no  private  respects  or  gains  or  quar- 
rels may  cause  you  to  neglect  the  public  and  common  safety,  peace  and 
liberties.  I  beseech  the  blessed  God  to  keep  fresh  in  your  thoughts  what 
he  hath  done  for  Providence  Plantations.  My  dear  respects  to  yourselves, 
wives  and  children  ;  I  beseech  the  eternal  God  to  be  seen  amongst  you. 
So  prays  your  most  faithful  and  affectionate  friend  and  servant, 

Roger  Williams. 
P.  S.     My  love  to  all  my  Indian  friends. 

Winslow  died  in  the  West  Indies  in  1655. 


232  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

As  men  of  all  tempers  and  sentiments  had  resorted  to 
that  colony,  and  there  had  been  from  various  quarters  such 
interruptions  of  a  regular  administration  of  government  as 
have  been  mentioned,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. if  many 
disorders  appeared  among  them,  of  which  enemies  to  their 
liberties  did  not  fail  to  make  all  the  advantage  they  could. 
Mr.  Williams  attended  upon  the  difficult  and  important 
affairs  of  his  agency  another  year,  and  then  leaving  the 
cause  there  with  Mr.  Clarke  and  other  friends,  he  came  over 
to  take  care  of  things  here.  He  brought  with  him  the  follow- 
ing epistle,  viz. : — 

Loving  and  christian  friends  : — I  could  not  refuse  this  bccirer,  Mr. 
Roger  Williams,  my  kind  friend  and  ancient  acquaintance,  to  be  accom- 
panied with  these  few  lines  from  myself  to  you,  upon  his  return  to  Provi- 
dence colony  ;  though  perhaps  my  private  and  retired  condition,  which  the 
Lord  of  his  mercy  hath  brought  me  into,  might  have  argued  strongly 
enough  for  my  silence  ;  but  indeed  something  I  hold  myself  bound  to  say 
to  you,  out  of  the  Christian  love  I  bear  you,  and  for  his  sake  whose  name 
is  called  upon  by  you  and  engaged  on  your  behalf.  How  is  it  that  there 
are  such  divisions  amongst  you?  Such  headiness,  tumults,  disorders, 
injustice?  the  noise  whereof  echoes  into  the  ears  of  all,  as  well  frieuds  as 
enemies,  by  every  return  of  ships  from  those  parts.  Is  not  the  fear  and 
awe  of  God  amongst  you  to  restrain?  Is  not  the  love  of  Christ  in  you  to 
fill  you  with  yearning  bowels  one  towards  another,  and  constrain  you  not 
to  live  to  yourselves  but  to  him  that  died  for  you,  yea,  and  is  risen  again? 
Are  there  no  wise  men  amongst  you  ?  No  public  self-denying  spirits,  that  at 
least  upon  grounds  of  common  safety,  equity  and  prudence  can  find  out  some 
way  or  means  of  union  and  reconciliation  for  you  amongst  yourselves,  before 
you  become  a  prey  to  common  enemies?  Especially  since  this  state,  by  the 
last  letter  from  the  Council  of  State,  gave  you  your  freedom,  as  supposing  a 
better  use  would  have  been  made  of  it  than  there  hath  been.  Surely  when 
kind  and  simple  remedies  are  applied  and  are  ineffectual,  it  speaks  loud  and 
broadly,  the  high  and  dangerous  distempers  of  such  a  body,  as  if  the 
wounds  were  incurable.  But  I  hope  better  things  from  you,  though  I  thus 
speak,  and  should  be  apt  to  think,  that  by  commissioners  agreed  on  and 
appointed  on  all  parts,  and  on  behalf  of  all  interests,  in  a  general  meet- 
ing, such  a  union  and  common  satisfaction  might  arise,  as  through  (Jod's 
blessing  might  put  a  stop  to  your  growing  breaches  and  distractions, silence 
your  enemies,  encourage  your  friends,  honor  the  name  of  God  which  of 
late  hath  been  much   blasphemed    by  reason   of  you  ;  and    in    particular 


[1654.]  WILLIAMS'S  LETTER  TO  PROVIDENCE.  233 

refresh  and  revive  the  sad  heart   of  him  who  mourns  over  your  present 
evils,  as  being  your  affectionate  friend,  to  serve  you  in  the  Lord. 

H.  Vane.1 
Bellean,  the  8th  of  February,  1653—4. 

With  this  Mr.  Williams  returned  to  Providence  ;  but  at 
first  met  with  such  treatment  as  caused  him  to  address  the 
town  in  the  following  manner : — 

"Well  beloved  Friends  and  Neighbors  : — I  am  like  a  man  in  a  great 
fog.  I  know  not  well  how  to  steer.  I  fear  to  run  upon  the  rocks  at  home, 
having  had  trials  abroad.  I  fear  to  run  quite  backward  (as  men  in  a  mist 
do)  and  undo  all  that  I  have  been  a  [this  late]  long  time  undoing  myself 
to  do,  viz.  :  to  keep  up  the  name  of  a  people,  a  free  people,  not  enslaved  to 
the  bondages  and  iron  yokes  of  the  great  (both  soul  and  body)  oppressions 
the  English  and  barbarians  about  us  ;  nor  to  the  divisions  and  disorders 
within  ourselves.  Since  I  set  the  first  step  of  any  English  foot  into  these 
wild  parts,  and  have  maintained  a  chargeable  and  hazardous  correspon- 
dence with  the  barbarians,  and  spent  almost  five  years  time  with  the  state 
of  England,  to  keep  off  the  rage  of  the  English  against  us,  what  have  I 
reaped  of  the  root  of  being  the  stepping  stone  to  so  many  families  and 
towns  about  us,  but  grief,  and  sorrow,  and  bitterness  !  I  have  been  charged 
with  folly  for  that  freedom  and  liberty  which  I  have  always  stood  for  ;  I 
say  liberty  and  equality  both  in  land  and  government.  I  have  been  blamed 
for  parting  with  Mooshawsick,  and  afterward  Pawtuxet  (which  were  mine 
own,  as  truly  as  man's  coat  upon  his  back)  without  reserving  to  myself  a 
foot  of  land  or  an  inch  of  voice  in  any  matter,  more  than  to  my  servants 
or  strangers.  It  hath  been  told  me  that  I  labored  for  a  licentious  and  con- 
tentious people  ;  that  I  have  foolishly  parted  with  town  and  colony  advan- 
tages, by  which  I  might  have  preserved  both  town  and  colony  in  as  good 
order,  as  any  [town  or  colony]  in  the  country  about  us.  This  and  ten 
times  more  I  have  been  censured  for,  and  at  this  present  am  called  a  traitor 
by  [the]  one  party,  against  the  state  of  England,  for  not  maintaining  the 
charter  and  the  colony  ;  and  it  is  said  that  I  am  as  good  as  banished  by 
yourselves,  and  that  both  sides  wished  that  I  might  never  have  landed, 
that  the  fire  of  contention  might  have  had  no  stop  in  burning.  In- 
deed the  words  have  been  so  sharp  between  myself  and  some  lately,  that 
at  last  I  was  forced  to  say,  They  might  well  silence  all  complaints  if  I 
once  began  to  complain,  who  was  unfortunately  fetched  and  drawn  from 
my  employment,  and  sent  to  so  vast  distance  from  my  family  to  do  your 
work  of  a  high  and  costly  nature,  for  so  many  days,  and  weeks,  and 
months  together,  and  there  left  to  starve,  or  steal,  or  beg,  or  borrow.    But 

'Copied  from  the  original  letter. 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

blessed  be  God  who  gave  me  favor  to  borrow  one  while,  and  to  work 
another,  and  thereby  to  pay  your  debts  there,  and  to  come  over  with  your 
credit  and  honor,  as  an  agent  from  you,  who  had  in  your  name  grappled 
with  the  agents  and  friends  of  all  your  enemies  round  about  you.  I  am 
told  that  your  opposites  thought  on  me,  and  provided  (as  I  may  say)  a 
sponge  to  wipe  off  your  scores  and  debts  in  England,  but  that  it  was  ob- 
structed by  yourselves,  who  rather  meditated  on  means  and  new  agents  to 
be  sent  over  to  cross  what  Mr.  Clarke  and  I  had  obtained.  But  gentlemen, 
blessed  be  God  who  faileth  not,  and  blessed  be  his  name  for  his  wonderful 
providences,  by  which  alone  this  town  and  colony,  and  that  grand  cause  of 
truth  and  [and  truth  of]  freedom  of  conscience  hath  been  upheld  to  this 
day.  And  blessed  be  his  name  who  hath  again  quenched  so  much  of  our 
fires  hitherto,  and  hath  brought  your  names  and  his  own  name  thus  far  out 
of  the  dirt  of  scorn,  reproach,  &c.  I  find  amoug[st]  yourselves  aud  your 
opposites  that  of  Solomon  true,  that  the  contentions  of  brethren,  some  that 
lately  were  so,  are  the  bars  of  a  castle,  and  not  easily  broken  ,  and  I  have 
heard  some  of  both  sides  zealously  talking  of  undoing  themselves  by  atrial 
in  England.  Truly,  friends,  I  cannot  but  fear  you  lost  a  fair  wind  lately, 
when  this  town  was  sent  to  for  its  deputies,  and  you  were  not  pleased  to 
give  an  overture  unto  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  about  it ;  yea, 
and  when  yourselves  thought  that  I  invited  you  to  some  conference  tending 
to  reconciliation,  before  the  town  should  act  in  so  fundamental  a  business, 
you  were  pleased  to  forestall  that,  so  that  being  full  of  grief,  shame  and 
astonishment  [amazement]  ;  yea,  aud  fear  that  all  that  is  now  done  (espec- 
ially in  our  town  of  Providence)  is  but  provoking  the  spirits  of  men  to 
fury  of  desperation.  I  pray  your  leave  to  pray  you  to  remember  (that 
which  I  lately  told  your  opposites)  Only  by  pride  cometh  contention.  If 
there  be  humility  on  the  one  side,  yet  there  is  pride  on  the  other,  and  .... 
certainly  the  eternal  God  will  engage  against  the  proud  ;  I  therefore  pray 
you  to  examine,  as  I  have  done  them,  your  proceedings  in  this  first  par- 
ticular. Secondly,  love  covereth  a  multitude  of  sins.  Surely  your  charges 
and  complaints  each  against  other  have  not  hid  nor  covered  anything,  as 
we  used  to  cover  the  nakedness  of  those  we  love.  If  you  will  now  profess 
not  to  have  disfranchised  humanity  [humility]  and  love,  but  that  (as  [ouce] 
David  in  another  case)  you  will  sacrifice  to  the  common  peace,  and  com- 
mon safety,  and  common  credit,  that  which  may  be  said  to  cost  you  some- 
thing, I  pray  your  loving  leave  to  tell  you  that  if  I  were  in  your  souls* 
case,  I  would  seud  unto  your  opposites  such  a  line  as  this  : — "  Neighbors, 
at  the  constant  request,  and  upon  the  constant  mediation  which  our  neigh- 
bor Roger  Williams,  since  his  arrival,  hath  used  to  us,  both  for  pacifica- 
tion and  accommodation  of  our  sad  differences,  and  also  upon  the  late 
endeavors  in  all  the  other  towns  for  an  union,  we  are  persuaded  to  remove 
our  obstruction,  viz.,  that  paper  of  contention  between  us,  aud  to  deliver    it 


[1654. J  LETTER  TO  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  235 

into  the  hands  of  our  aforesaid  neighbor,  and  to  obliterate  that  order 
which  that  paper  did  occasion.  This  removed,  you  may  be  pleased  [please] 
to  meet  with,  and  debate  freely,  and  vote  in  all  matters  with  us  as  if  such 
grievances  had  not  been  amongst  us.  Secondly,  If  yet  ought  remain 
grievous  which  we  ourselves  by  free  debate  and  conference  cannot  compose, 
we  offer  to  be  judged  and  censured  by  four  men,  which  out  of  any  part  of 
the  colony  you  shall  choose  two,  and  we  the  other. 

Gentlemen,  I  only  add,  that  I  crave  your  loving  pardon  to  your  bold  but 
true  friend,  Roger  Williams. 

This  address  had  the  desired  effect ;  and  when  the  town 
came  together,  and  Mr.  Williams  had  a  full  hearing  of  the 
case,  he,  in  the  name  of  the  town,  drew  an  answer  to  Sir 
Henry  Vane's  letter,  on  August  27th,  1654,  which  now 
remains  on  record  in  his  own  hand  writing  as  follows  : — 

Sir  : — Although  we  are  aggrieved  at  your  late  retirement  from  the  helm 
of  public  affairs,  yet  we  rejoice  to  reap  the  sweet  fruits  of  your  rest  in 
your  pious  and  loving  lines,  most  seasonably  sent  unto  us.  Thus  the  sun 
[Thus  sir,  your  sun]  when  he  retires  his  brightness  from  the  world,  yet 
from  under  the  very  clouds  we  perceive  his  presence,  and  enjoy  some  light 
and  heat  and  sweet  refreshings.  Sir,  your  letters  were  directed  to  all  and 
every  particular  town  of  this  Providence  colony.  Surely  Sir,  among  the 
many  providences  of  the  most  High,  toward  this  town  of  Providence,  and 
this  Providence  colony,  we  cannot  but  see  apparently  his  gracious  hand, 
providing  your  honorable  self  for  so  noble  aud  true  a  friend  to  an  outcast 
and  despised  people.  From  the  first  beginning  of  this  Providence  colony, 
(occasioned  by  the  banishment  of  some  in  this  place  [these  parts]  from  the 
Massachusetts)  we  say  ever  since,  to  this  very  day,  we  have  reaped  the 
sweet  fruits  of  your  constant  loving-kindness  and  favor  toward  us.  Oh 
Sir  !  whence  then  is  it  that  you  have  bent  your  bow,  and  shot  your  sharp 
and  bitter  arrows  now  against  us  ?  "Whence  is  it  that  you  charge  us  with 
divisions,  disorders,  &c.  ?  Sir,  we  humbly  pray  your  gentle  acceptance  of 
our  two-fold  answer. 

First,  we  have  been  greatly  disturbed  and  distracted  [distressed]  by  the 
ambition  and  covetousness  of  some  amongst  ourselves.  Sir,  we  were  in 
complete  order  until  Mr.  Coddington  (wanting  that  public  self-denying 
spirit  which  you  commend  to  us  in  your  letter)  procured,  by  most  untrue 
information,  a  monopoly  of  part  of  the  colony,  viz.  :  Rhode  Island  to  him- 
self, and  so  occasioned  our  general  disturbance  and  distractions.  Secondly, 
Mr.  Dyre,  with  no  less  want  of  a  public  spirit,  being  ruined  by  party  con- 
tentions with  Mr.  Coddington,  and  being  betrusted  to  bring  from  England 
the  letters  of  the  Council  of  State  for  our  re-unitings,  he  hopes  for  a  recruit 


236  HISTORY  OF  TIIE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  himself  by  other  men's  goods  ;  and  (contrary  to  the  State's  intentions 
and  expressions)  plungeth  himself  and  some  others,  in  most  unnecessary 
and  unrighteous  plundering,  both  of  Dutch  and  French,  and  English  also, 
[all]  to  our  great  grief,  who  protested  against  such  abuse  of  our  power 
from  England  ;  and  the  end  of  it  is  [even]  to  the  shame  and  reproach  of 
himself,  and  the  very  English  name,  [itself]  as  all  these  parts  do  witness." 
Sir,  our  second  answer  is,  (that  we  may  not  lay  all  the  load  upon  other 
men's  backs)  that  possibly  a  sweet  cup  hath  rendered  many  of  us  wanton 
and  too  active  ;  for  we  have  long  drunk  of  the  cup  of  as  great  liberties  as 
any  people  that  we  can  hear  of  under  the  whole  heaven.  TVe  have  not 
only  been  long  free  (together  with  all  New  England)  from  the  iron  yoke 
of  wolfish  bishops,  and  their  popish  ceremonies  (against  whose  cruel 
oppressions  God  raised  up  your  noble  spirit  in  parliament)1  but  we  have 
sitten  quiet  and  dry,  from  the  streams  of  blood  spilt  by  that  war  in  our 
native  country.  We  have  not  felt  the  new  chains  of  the  presbyterian  tyr- 
ants, nor  in  this  colony,  have  we  been  consumed  with  the  over-zealous  fire 
of  the  (so  called)  godly  Christian  magistrates.  Sir,  we  have  not  known 
what  an  excise  means ;  we  have  almost  forgot  what  tythes  are,  yea,  or 
taxes  either,  to  church  or  commonwealth.  We  could  name  other  special 
privileges,  ingredients  of  our  sweet  cup,  which  your  great  wisdom  knows 
to  be  very  powerful  (except  more  than  ordinary  watchfulness)  to  render 
the  best  of  men  wauton  and  forgetful.  But  blessed  be  your  love,  and  your 
loving  heart  and  hand,  awakening  any  of  our  sleepy  spirits  by  your  sweet 
alarm  ;  and  blessed  be  your  noble  family,  root  and  branch,  and  all  your 
pious  and  prudent  engagements  and  retirements.  We  hope  you  shall  no 
more  complain  of  the  saddening  of  your  loving  heart,  by  the  men  of  Provi- 
dence town  or  Providence  colony,  but  that  [Sir,]  when  we  are  gone  and 
rotten,  our  posterity  and  children  after  us  shall  read  in  our  town  records, 
your  pious  and  favorable  letters  and  loving-kindness  to  us,  and  this  our 
answer,  and  real  endeavor  after  peace  and  righteousness  ;  and  to  be  found 
Sir,  your  most  obliged  and  most  humble  servants,  the  town  of  Providence, 
in  Providence  colony  in  New  England. 

Gregory  Dexter,  Town  Clerk. 

They  chose  commissioners  who  met  with  those  from  the 
other  towns  on  August  31  ;  when  they  agreed  that  the 
affairs  that  had  heen  transacted  by  authority  in  each  town 
should  remain  till  further  orders  ;  and  that  for  the  future 
their   government   should  be   managed   according  to  their 

MVIh'ii  those  cruel  oppressors  had  regained  their  power  in  1002,  so  as  to  eject 
two  thousand  Protectant  teachers  out  of  their  places,  they  wreaked  their  vengeance 
on  this  noble  man,  so  as  to  have  him  puhlicly  beheaded;  but  he  died  in  an  heroic 
manner. 


[1654.]  GOVERNMENT  AND  RELIGIOUS  FREEDOM.  237 

charter ;  and  that  an  assembly  of  six  commissioners  from 
each  town,  should  transact  the  business  of  making  laws,  and 
trying  their  general  affairs ;  and  they  ordered,  "  that  Mr. 
Ezekiel  Holiman,  and  Mr.  John  Greene,  junr,  are  to  view 
the  general  laws  of  the  colony,  and  to  represent  [present] 
them  to  the  next  Court  of  Commissioners ;"  and  they  appoint- 
ed a  general  election  at  Warwick,  on  Sept.  12.1  At  that 
election  Mr.  Williams  was  chosen  president  of  the  colony ; 
and  the  assembly  ordered,  "  that  Mr.  Roger  Williams,  and 
Mr.  Gregory  Dexter  [are  desired  to]  draw  forth  and  send 
letters  of  humble  thanksgiving,  to  his  Highness  the  Lord 
Protector,  and  Sir  Henry  Yane,  Mr.  Holland,  and  Mr.  John 
Clarke,  in  the  name  of  the  colony,  and  Mr.  Williams  is 
desired  to  subscribe  them  by  virtue  of  his  office."  Thus  far 
things  appeared  encouraging  ;  but  as  tyranny  and  licentious- 
ness are  equally  enemies,  both  to  government  and  liberty, 
Mr.  Williams  often  had  both  of  them  to  contend  with. 
Soon  after  this  settlement  a  person  sent  a  paper  to  the  town 
of  Providence,  That  it  was  blood-guiltness,  and  against  the 
rule  of  the  gospel,  to  execute  judgment  upon  transgressors, 
against  the  private  or  public  weal.   But  said  Mr.  Williams  : — 

That  ever  I  should  speak  or  write  a  tittle  that  tends  to  such  an  infinite 
liberty  of  conscience  is  a  mistake,  aud  which  I  have  ever  disclaimed  and 
abhorred.  To  prevent  such  mistakes,  I  at  present  shall  only  propose  this 
case.  There  goes  many  a  ship  to  sea,  with  many  [a]  hundred  souls  in 
one  ship,  whose  weal  and  woe  is  common  ;  and  is  a  true  picture  of  a  com- 
monwealth, or  an  human  combination,  or  society.  It  hath  fallen  out  some- 
providence  Records.  The  names  of  the  commissioners  who  composed  and 
signed  this  amicable  settlement  were,  Thomas  Harris,  Gregory  Dexter,  John  Sayles, 
William  Wickenden,  John  Brown  and  Henry  Brown,  for  Providence ;  William 
Baulston,  John  Roome,  Thomas  Cornell,  John  Briggs  and  William  Hall,  for  Ports- 
mouth ;  Benedict  Arnold,  Richard  Tew,  John  Coggshall,  John  Easton,  William 
Lytherland  and  Thomas  Gould,  for  Newport;  John  Greene,  senior,  Randal  Holden, 
Ezekiel  Holiman,  John  Greene,  junior,  John  Townsend  and  Richard  Townsend,  for 
Warwick.  Arnold  left  his  father's  party  at  Pawtuxet,  and  was  received  a  freeman 
at  Newport,  in  May,  1653 ;  after  which  he  was  greatly  promoted  in  the  colony. — B. 
The  published  R.  I.  Colonial  Records  give  the  name  John  Taylor,  instead  of  John 
Sayles.     Backus  is  undoubtedly  correct,  as  it  is  known  from  other  sources  that 


238  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

times  that  both  Papists  and  Protestants,  Jews  and  Turks,  may  be  embarked 
into  one  ship.  Upon  which  supposal,  I  [do]  affirm  that  all  the  liberty  of 
conscience,  that  ever  I  pleaded  for,  turns  upon  these  two  hinges,  that  none 
of  the  Papists,  Protestants,  Jews  or  Turks,  be  forced  to  come  to  the  ship's 
prayers  or  worship  ;  nor  [secondly]  compelled  from  their  own  particular 
prayers  or  worship,  if  they  practice  any.  I  further  add,  that  I  never  denied 
that  notwithstanding  this  liberty,  the  commander  of  this  ship  ought  to 
command  the  ship's  course  ;  yea,  and  also  command  that  justice,  peace  and 
sobriety  to  be  kept  and  practiced,  both  among  the  seamen  and  all  the  pas- 
sengers. If  any  of  the  seamen  refuse  to  perform  their  service,  or  passen- 
gers to  pay  their  freight ;  if  any  refuse  to  help  in  person  or  purse  towards 
the  common  charges  or  defence ;  if  any  refuse  to  obey  the  common  laws 
and  orders  of  the  ship,  concerning  their  common  peace  or  preservation  ;  if 
any  shall  mutiny  and  rise  up  against  their  commanders  and  officers  ;  if  any 
should  [shall]  preach  or  write  that  there  ought  to  be  no  commanders  nor 
officers,  because  all  are  equal  in  Christ,  therefore  no  masters  nor  officers, 
no  laws  nor  orders,  no  corrections  nor  punishments  ;  I  say,  I  never  denied 
but  in  such  cases,  whatever  is  pretended,  the  commander  or  commanders 
may  judge,  resist,  compel  and  punish  such  transgressors,  according  to  their 
deserts  and  merits.  This,  if  seriously  and  honestly  minded,  may  if  it  so 
please  the  Father  of  lights,  let  in  some  light  to  such  as  willingly  shut  not 
their  eyes.     I  remain  studious  of  your  [our]  common  peace  and  liberty. 

Roger  Williams.1 

This  clear  description  of  the  difference  between  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  and  of  the  difference  betwixt  good 
government  on  the  one  hand,  and  tyranny  or  licentiousness 
on  the  other,  confirmed  by  a  correspondent  practice  through 
fifty  years  of  incessant  labors,  is  more  than  a  sufficient  bal- 
ance to  all  the  slanders  that  various  parties  have  cast  upon 
this  ancient  witness  and  advocate  for  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  men,  against  the  superstitions  and  enthusiasms  of  his  day. 
Having  settled  things  as  well  as  he  could  among  his  own 
people,  he,  as  president  of  his  colony,  addressed  the  general 

there  was  a  John  Sayles  in  Providence  at  about  this  time,  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
account  of  a  John  Taylor.  After  the  name  of  William  Banlston,  6hould  he  inser- 
ted that  of  Richard  Harden.  It  is  given  in  the  Colonial  Records,  and  Backus  by 
omitting  it  represents  Portsmouth  as  having  only  five  commissioners  though  he  has 
6aid  ahove  that  eaeh  town  was  to  have  six.  The  name  which  stands  in  the  first 
edition  as  Kichard  dew,  we  have  changed  to  Richard  Tew  as  it  stands  here  and  in 
many  other  places  on  the  Records. — Ed. 

•History  of  Providence.  [Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  Sceond  series,  Vol.  II.  pp.  191,  192.] 


[1655.]  LETTER  CONCERNING  THE  TOWN   OF  WARWICK.  239 

assembly  at  Boston,  in  the  following  words,  directed  to  tiieir 
governor : — 

Providence,  15,  9  month,  '55  (so  called.) 

Much  Honored  Sirs  : — It  is  my  humble  and  earnest  petition  unto  God 
and  you,  that  you  may  be  so  pleased  to  exercise  command  over  your  own 
spirits  that  you  may  not  mind  myself  nor  the  English  of  these  parts  (un- 
worthy with  myself  of  your  eye)  but  only  that  face  of  equity  (English 
and  Christian)  which  I  humbly  hope  may  appear  in  these  representations 
following : — 

First,  May  it  please  you  to  remember,  that  concerning  the  town  of  War- 
wick, [in  this  colony]  there  lies  a  suit  of  two  thousand  pounds  damages 
against  you  before  his  Highness  and  the  Lords  of  the  [his]  Council.  I 
doubt  not,  if  you  so  please,  but  that  (as  Mr.  Winslow  and  myself  had  well 
nigh  ordered  it)  some  gentlemen  from  yourselves  and  some  from  Warwick 
deputed,  may  friendly  and  easily  determine  that  affair  between  you.1 

Secondly,  The  Indians  which  pretend  your  names  at  Warwick  and  Paw- 
tuxet  (yet  live  as  barbarously  if  not  more  than  any  in  the  whole  colony) 
please  you  to  know  their  insolences  upon  ourselves  and  cattle  (unto  twenty 
pounds  damages  per  annum)  are  insufferable  by  English  spirits ;  and 
please  you  to  give  credence  that  to  all  these  they  pretend  your  name,  and 
affirm  that  they  dare  not  (for  offending  you)  agree  with  us,  nor  come  to 
rules  of  righteous  neighborhood,  only  they  know  you  favor  us  not,  and 
therefore  send  us  for  redress  unto  you. 

Thirdly,  Concerning  four  families  at  Pawtuxet,  may  it  please  you  to 
remember  the  two  controversies  they  have  long  (under  your  name)  main- 
tained with  us,  to  the  constant  obstructing  of  all  order  and  authority  amongst 

xThus  it  appears  that  their  invading  their  neighbors'  rights  at  Warwick,  caused 
troubles  for  them  in  England  above  ten  years  after,  which  Mr.  Winslow,  their  agent, 
and  Mr.  Williams,  could  not  quite  settle ;  and  they  not  complying  with  his  reason- 
able proposal  now,  Gorton  entered  a  complaint  against  them  before  king  Charles's 
Commissioners  in  1665,  in  which,  besides  all  their  other  sufferings,  they  alleged  that 
the  Massachusetts  took  away  and  sold  eighty  head  of  their  cattle.  Massachusetts 
History,  Vol.  I,  p.  103. 

The  controversy  not  being  then  settled,  drew  consequences  after  it  enough  to  make 
our  ears  to  tingle ;  an  account  of  which  I  perceive  was  presented  to  king  Charles 
the  Second,  in  1679,  by  Randal  Holden  and  others,  as  agents  from  Warwick,  wherein 
they,  after  describing  their  suffering  at  Boston,  say,  "  and  all  this  because  that  we 
(being  without  their  jurisdiction)  would  not  relinquish  and  forsake  the  sound  doc- 
trine and  Christian  principles  taught  us  in  our  minority  in  the  church  of  England." 
Upon  which  they  go  on  to  relate  how  that  party  disposition  against  them,  after  exas- 
perating the  Narragansetts  in  Philip's  war,  left  Warwick  defenceless  to  the  fury  of 
the  savages ;  and  that  the  English  themselves  did  them  other  great  injuries  after- 
.  ward.  How  should  these  things  warn  all  to  leave  off  contention  before  it  is  meddled 
with? 


2-10  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

us To  obey  his  Highness' authority  in  this  charter,  they   say  they 

dare  not  for  your  sakes,  though  they  live  not  by  your  laws,  nor  bear  your 
common  charges,  nor  ours,  but  evade  both  under  color  of  your  authority. 
....  Be  pleased  to  consider  how  unsuitable  it  is  for  yourselves  [if  these 
•families  at  Pawtuxet  plead  truth]  to  be  the  obstructors  of  all  orderly  pro- 
ceedings amongst  us ;  for  I  humbly  appeal  to  your  own  wisdoms  and 
experience,  how  uulikely  it  is  for  a  people  to  be  compelled  to  order  and 
common  charges,  when  others  in  their  bosoms  are  by  such  .(seeming)  par- 
tiality exempted  from  both. 

He  then  observes  that  there  were  in  reality  only  W. 
Arnold  and  W.  Carpenter,  "  very  far  in  religion  from  you,  if 
you  knew  all,"  who  continued  this  obstruction  ;  and  all  their 
plea  for  it  was  a  fear  of  offending  the  Massachusetts.  And 
says  he : — 

I  perceive  your  commerce  with  the  people  of  this  colony  is  as  great  as 
with  any  in  the  country,  and  our  dangers  (being  a  frontier  people  to  the 
barbarians)1  are  greater  than  those  of  other  colonies,  and  the  ill  conse- 
quences to  yourselves  would  be  not  few  nor  small,  and  to  the  whole  land, 
were  we  first  massacred  or  mastered  by  them.  I  pray  your  equal  and  favor- 
able reflection  upon  that  your  law,  which  prohibits  us  to  buy  of  you  all 
means  of  our  necessary  defence,  of  our  lives  and  families  ;  yea,  in  this 
[most]  bloody  and  massacring  time.  We  are  informed  that  tickets  have 
rarely  been  denied  to  any  English  of  the  country  ;  yea,  the  barbarians, 
though  notorious  in  lies,  if  they  profess  subjection,  they  are  furnished  ;2 
only  ourselves,  by  former  and  latter  denial,  seem  to  be  devoted  to  be  the 
Indian  shambles  and  massacres.  The  barbarians  all  the  land  over  are 
filled  with  artillery  and  ammunition  from  the  Dutch,  openly  and  horridly, 
and  from  the  English  all  over  the  country,  by  stealth,  I  know  they  abound 
so  wonderfully,  that  their  activity  and  insolence  is  grown  so  high,  that  they 
daily  consult  and  hope  and  threaten  to  render  us  slaves,  as  they  long  since 
[and  now  most  terribly]  have  made  the  Dutch.  For  myself,  as  through 
God's  goodness,  I  have  refused  the  gain  of  thousands  by  such  a  murderous 
trade,  and  think  no  law  yet  extant  among  yourselves  or  us,  secure 
enough  against  such  villainy  ;  so  am  I  loth  to  see  so  many  hundreds,  if 
not  some  thousands,  in  this  colony  destroyed  like  fools  and  beasts  without 
resistance.  I  grieve  that  so  much  blood  should  cry  against  yourselves  ; 
yea,  and  I  grieve  that  at  this  instant  by  these  ships,  this  cry  and  the  prem- 
ises should  now  trouble  his  Highness  and  his  council.     For  the   seasonable 

'Winn  Mr.  Williams  first  began  among  the  Narragansitts,  he  said  they  had  five 
thousand  fighting  men.     Callendar,  p.  70.  [124.] 
•See  page  104. 


[1655.1  WILLIAMS  AND  HARRIS.  241 

preventing  of  which  is  this  humble  address  presented  to  your  wisdom,  by 
him  who  desires  to  be  your  unfeigned  and  faithful  servant, 

Roger  Williams, 
Of  Providence  Plantations,  President." 

He  then  requested  them  to  record  an  order  which  the 
Lords  of  the  Council  gave  him  upon  his  last  return  from 
England,  for  his  free  taking  of  ship  or  landing  at  their 
ports,  lest,  says  he,  "  forgetfulness  hereafter  again  put  me 
upon  such  distresses  as,  God  knows,  I  suffered,  when  I  last 
passed  through  your  colony  to  our  native  country."1 

The  above  were  not  all  the  trying  things  that  he  met  with 
this  year.  No,  Mr.  William  Harris,  to  whom  he  generously 
gave  a  share  in  Providence  lands,  and  who  had  professed 
himself  a  Baptist,  "  sent  his  writings  to  the  main  and  to  the 
Island,  against  all  earthly  powers,  parliaments,  laws,  char- 
ters, magistrates,  prisons,  punishments,  rates,  yea,  against 
all  kings  and  princes,  under  the  notion  that  the  people 
should  shortly  cry  out,  No  lords,  no  masters ;  and  in  open  court 
protested,  before  the  whole  colony  assembled,  that  he  would 
maintain  his  writings  with  his  blood !"  This  was  done  at 
the  election  at  Newport,  May  22d,  1655.  Upon  which  the 
Assembly  appointed  Messrs.  Olney,  Baulston  and  Roome  to 
deal  with  him  ;2  and  Mr.  Williams  soon  after  received  the 
following  letter  from  the  Lord  Protector,  viz. : — 

Gentlemen  : — Your  agent  here  hath  represented  uuto  us  some  particu- 
lars  concerning  your  government,  which  you  judge  necessary  to  be  settled 

^lassachusetts  History,  Vol.  III.  pp.  275—278.  [R.  I.  Colonial  Records.]  This 
year  the  church  of  Charlestown  began  their  dealings  with  Mr.  Gould,  which  issued 
in  his  gathering  the  first  Baptist  church  in  Boston. 

2In  the  published  R.  I.  Colonial  Records  of  the  Court  which  sat  at  Newport,  May 
25,  1655,  the  election  of  which  was  held  May  22,  is  the  following : — "  It  is  ordered, 
....  that,  whereas,  it  hath  been  debated  in  this  Court  of  some  rising  or  taking  up 
of  arras  to  the  opposing  of  authority  by  Mr.  Thomas  Olnie,  Mr.  Baulston  and  Mr. 
Roome  are  desired  to  treat  with  him  and  to  declare  to  him  the  mind  of  this  Court 
and  the  proceedings  of  the  Colony  concerning  him."  If  this  is  the  record  to  which 
Backus  refers  in  the  ahjove  statement, — and  there  appears  to  be  no  other  to  which 
he  could  refer, — it  has  been  materially  misread,  either  by  him  or  by  the  copyist  who 
prepared  it  for  the  press.  It  was  nearly  a  year  later,  May  20,  1657,  that  Roger 
Williams  impeached  Harris  for  high  treason  The  articles  of  impeachment  com- 
16 


2-42  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS    IX   NEW   ENGLAND. 

by  us  here,  but  by  reason  of  the  other  great  and  weighty  affairs  of  tins 
commonwealth,  we  have  been  necessitated  to  defer  the  consideration  of  them 
to  [a]  farther  opportunity  ;  in  the  mean  time  we  are  [were]  willing  to  let 
yon  know  that  you  were  [are]  to  proceed  in  your  government  according 
to  the  tenor  of  your  charter,  formerly  granted  on  that  behalf,  taking  care 
of  the  peace  and  safety  of  those  plantations,  that  neither  through  [any] 
intestine  commotions  or  foreign  invasions,  there  do  arise  auy  detriment  or 
dishonor  to  their  [this]  commonwealth  or  yourselves,  as  far  as  you  by 
your  care  and  diligence  can  prevent.  And  as  for  the  things  that  are  before 
us,  they  shall,  as  soon  as  the  other  occasions  will  permit,  receive  a  just 
and  sufficient  [fitting]  determination.  And  so  we  bid  you  farewell  and  rest, 
Your  very  loving  frieud,  Oliver,  P. 

March  29th,  1655. 
To  our  trusty  and  well-beloved,  the  President,  Assistants,  and   inhabitants 

of  Rhode  Island,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  Providence  Plantations  in 

the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New  England. 

Hereupon  the  Assembly  met  again,  June  28th,  and  enact- 
ed as  follows  : — 

"Whereas,  we  have  been  rent  and  torn  with  divisions,  and  his  Highness 
hath  sent  unto  us  an  express  command,  under  his  hand  and  seal,  to  pro- 
vide against  intestine  commotions,  by  which  his  Highness  noteth,  that  not 
only  ourselves  are  dishonored  and  endangered,  but  also  dishonor  and  detri- 
ment redounds  to  the  commonwealth  of  England  ;  it  is  ordered,  that  if  any 
person  or  persons  be  found,  by  the  examination  and  judgment  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court  of  Commissioners,  to  be  a  ringleader  or  ringleaders  of  factions 
or  divisions  among  us,  he  or  they  shall  be  sent  over  at  his  or  their  own 
charges,  as  prisoners,  to  receive  his  or  their  trial  or  sentence  at  the  pleas- 
ure of  his  Highness  and  the  Lords  of  his  Council. 

These  means  had  such  effect,  that  at  their  Assembly  at 
Warwick,  in  March  following,  I  find  it  thus  recorded : — 

I,  William  Coddington,  do  freely  submit  to  the  authority  of  his  Highness 
in  the  colony  as  it  is  now  united,  and  that  with  all  my  heart. 

Whenas,  there  have  been  differences  depending  between  William  Cod- 
dington, Esq.  ;  and  Mr.  William  Dyrc,  both  of  Newport,   we  declare  joy- 

menced  as  follows  : — "  Whereas,  William  Harris,   of  Providence,  published  to   all 

the  towns  in  the  colony  dangerous  writings  containing  liis  notorious  defiance  to  the 
authority  of  his  Highness  the  Lord  Protector,  &C.,  and  the  high  Court  of  Parlia- 
ment of  England,  as  also  his  notorious  attempts  to  draw  all  the  English  subjects  of 
this  colony  into  a  traitorous  renouncing  of  their  allegiance  and  subjection,  and 
whereas  the  said  William  Harris  now  openly  in  the  face  of  the  Court,  declareth 
himself  resolved  to  maintain  the  said  writings  with  his  blood,"  &c.  Arnold's  History 
of  Rhode  Island,  Vol.  I,  p.  2G3.— Ed. 


[1656.]        WILLIAMS  TO  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  ASSEMBLY.  243 

fully  for  ourselves  and  heirs  by  this  present  record  that  a  full  agreement 
and  conclusion  is  made  between  us,  by  our  worthy  friends,  Mr.  Baulston, 
Mr.  Gorton,  Mr.  John  Smith  of  Warwick,  Mr.  John  Greene,  jun.  of  War- 
wick, and  Mr.  John  Easton  ;  and  in  witness  whereof  we  subscribe  our 
hands,  and  desire  this  to  be  recorded,  this  present  14th  of  March,  1655, 
-56. 

In  the  presence  of  William  Coddington. 

Roger  Williams,  President,  William  Dyre. 

John  Roome, 
Benedict  Arnold, 
John  Greene,  jun.1 

Harris  now  turned,  and  cried  up  government  and  magis- 
trates as  much  as  he  had  cried  them  down  before.2  Being 
desirous  to  make  thorough  work  of  it,  Mr.  Williams  wrote 
again  to  the  Massachusetts  governor,  and  was  encouraged 
by  him  to  come  to  their  Assembly  at  Boston,  which  he  did, 
with  an  address,  dated  May  12th,  wherein  he  says : — 

Honored  Sirs  : — Our  first  request  was  and  is,  for  your  favorable  con- 
sideration of  the  long  and  lamentable  condition  of  the  town  of  Warwick, 
which  hath  been  thus.  They  are  so  dangerously  and  so  vexatiously  inter- 
mingled with  the  barbarians,  that  I  have  long  admired  the  wonderful  power 
of  God  in  restraining  and  preventing  very  great  fires,  of  mutual  slaughters, 
breaking  forth  between  them.  Your  wisdoms  know  the  inhuman  insulta- 
tions  of  these  wild  creatures,  and  you  may  be  pleased  also  to  imagine,  that 
they  have  not  been  sparing  of  your  name  as  the  patron  of  all  their  wicked- 
ness against  our  English,  men,  women  and  children,  and  cattle,  to  the 
yearly  damage  of  sixty,  eighty  and  a  hundred  pounds.  The  remedy,  under 
God  is  only  your  pleasure  that  Pumham  shall  come  to  an  agreement  with 
the  town  or  colony,  and  that  some  convenient  way  and  time  be  set  for  their 
removal.  And  that  your  wisdoms  may  see  just  grounds  for  such  your 
willingness,  be  pleased  to  be  informed  of  a  reality  of  a  solemn  covenant 
between  this  town  of  Warwick  and  Pumham,  unto  which,  notwithstanding 
[that]  he  pleads  his  being  drawn  to  it  by  the  awe  of  his  superior  sachems, 
yet  I  humbly  offer  that  what  was  done  was  according  to  the  law  and  tenor 
of  the  natives  (I  take  it)  in  all  New  England  and  America,  viz.,  that  the 
inferior  sachems  and  subjects  shall  plant  and  remove  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
highest  and  supreme  sachems,  and  I  humbly  conceive  that  it  pleaseth  the 
Most  High  and  only  wise  to  make  use  of  such  a   bond   of  authority  over 

JThis  latter  document  is  not  in  the  published  R.  I.  Colonial  Records,  it  being  re- 
garded, perhaps,  as  the  record  of  a  merely  private  matter. — Ed. 
2Rhode  Island  Colony  Records.     Williams  against  the  Quakers,  pp.  11 — 20, 


244  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

them,  without  which  they  could  not  long  subsist  in  human  societies,  in  this 
wild  condition  wherein  they  are.  Please  you  not  to  be  insensible  of  the 
slippery  and  daugerous  condition  of  this  their  intermingled  cohabitation.  I 
am  humbly  confident  that  all  the  English  towns  and  plantations  in  all  New 
England  put  together,  suffer  not  such  molestation  from  the  natives  as  this 

one  town   and   people Be  pleased  to  review  this  copy  from  the  Lord 

Admiral1  that  this  English  town  of  Warwick  should  proceed,  and 
[also]  that  if  any  of  yours  were  there  planted,  they  should  by  your  au- 
thority be  removed.  And  [we  humbly  conceive  that]  if  the  English,  whose 
removes  are  difficult  and  chargeable,  how  much  more  these  wild  ones,  who 
remove  with  little  more  trouble  and  damage  than  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
wilderness?  ....  This  small  neck,  whereon  they  keep  and  mingle  fields 
with  the  English,  is  a  very  den  of  wickedness,  where  they  not  only  practice 
the  horrid  barbarisms  of  all  kinds  of  whoredoms,  idolatries  and  conjura- 
tions, but  living  without  all  exercise  of  actual  authority,  and  getting  store 
of  liquors  (to  our  grief)  there  is  a  confluence  and  rendezvous  of  all  the 
wildest  and  most  licentious  natives  and  practices  of  the  whole  country. 

He  then  proceeded  to  inculcate  his  other  former  requests, 
which  now  had  their  effect.2 

The  journal  of  governor  Win  thro  p  shows,  that  before  they 
received  Pumham  and  his  fellows  under  their  protection,  the 
Court  made  them  promise  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  and  to  ob- 
serve other  religious  rules  ;3  but  this  account  manifests  the 
pernicious  evil  of  invading  others'  rights  under  the  mask  of 
religion.  They  were  awfully  requited  therefor.  Beside 
the  manifold  troubles  that  it  cost  the  Massachusetts  before, 
in  Philip's  war ;  they  not  only  "  lost  more  of  their  substance 
as  well  as  inhabitants  than  both  Plymouth  and  Connecticut 
colonies  together,"4  but  Pumham  and  his  family  had  so  great 
a  hand  therein,  that  the  dispatching  of  a  grandson  of  his  is 
mentioned  among  the  heroic  exploits  of  Captain  Denison, 
nine  months  after  that  war  began.  Pumham  himself  was 
"accounted  the  most  warlike  and  best  soldier  of  all  the 
Narragansett  sachems,"  and  he  was  so  bloody  and  barbarous 
through  the  war  that  when  he  was  killed  a  few  days  before 

•See  page  166. 

2.M;i.s.s;icl)Usctt.s  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  278—283. 
3Winthrop'8  Journal,  pp.  121,  122. — Ed. 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  493. 


[1657.]  RISE  OF  THE  QUAKERS.  245 

Philip,  within  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  Boston,  he, 
after  he  could  not  stand,  "  catching  hold  of  an  Englishman, 
that  by  accident  came  near  him,  had  done  him  a  mischief, 
if  he  had  not  been  presently  rescued."1 

No  sooner  had  Mr.  Williams  obtained  such  a  settlement 
of  old  controversies  in  the  country,  than  new  ones  arose  in 
the  following  manner.  George  Fox,  a  very  zealous  teacher, 
had  raised  a  new  sect  in  England,  who,  from  his,  and  his 
companions'  quaking  and  trembling  when  they  were  brought 
before  Gervase  Bennett,  a  justice  in  Derby,  in  1650,  were 
called  Quakers;  though  Fox  says,  it  was  because,  wt  we  bid 
him  and  his  company  tremble  at  the  word  of  God.'*2  In 
July  (this  year)  a  number  of  his  followers  arrived  at  Bos- 
ton, but  were  soon  imprisoned.  Mr.  Gorton  wrote  to  them 
as  I  have  related,3  to  which  they  gave  an  answer  Sept.  28th, 
wherein  they  say  : — 

Friend,  in  that  measure  which  we  have  received,  which  is  eternal,  we 
see  thee,  and  behold  thee,  and  have  oneness  with  thee,  in  that  which  is  meek 
and  low,  and  is  not  of  this  world  ; .  . .  .and  in  that  meek  and  low  spirit  we 
salute  thee,  and  own  that  of  God  in  thee,  which  is  waiting  for,  and  ex- 
pecting the  rising  of  that    which   is   under  the  earth The   ransomed 

of  the  Lord  shall  come  to  Zion  with  joy  and  gladness,  being  redeemed  from 
kindreds,  nations,  tongues  and  people,  by  the  blood  of  Jesus,  which  is 
spirit  and  life  to  all  those  that  obey  the  light,  which  from  the  life  doth  come, 
for  the  life  is  the  light  of  men,  and  whosoever  believes  in  the  light  which 
they  are  enlightened  with,  shall  not  abide  in  darkness,  which  light  we 
have  obeyed  in  coming  into  these  parts.  The  Lord  is  come  and  coming 
to  level  the  mountains,  and  to  rend  the  rocks  of  wisdom  and  knowledge, 
and  to  exalt  that  which  is  low  and  foolish  to  the  wisdom  of  the  world  ;  and 
blessed  shall  thou,  and  all  those  be,  who  meet  him  in  this  his  work.  From 
the  servants  and  messengers  of  the  Lord  whom  he  hath  sent  and  brought 
by  the  arm  of  his  power  into  these  parts  of  the  world,  for  which  we  suffer 

bonds  and  close  imprisonment Known  in  the  world  by  these  names, 

Christopher  Holden,  William  Brend, 

John  Copeland,  Thomas  Thurston. 

Hubbard's  History  of  that  war,  pp.  68—100. 

2Williams's  dispute  with  them,  p.  27.     Fox's  answer,  p.  26. — B. 

3Page  165.     See   Appendix  A  at  the  close  of  this  volume. — Ed. 


246  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

To  this  Gorton  wrote  a  reply  recited  in  page  110, 
and  thereby  as  well  as  by  what  is  in  pages  116,  117,  we 
may  learn  that  he  held  with  them  about  inward  power,  per- 
fection in  this  life,  and  falling  from  grace  received  ;  but 
when  he  came  to  be  acquainted  with  them,  he  did  not  con- 
cur with  them  about  Thee  and  Thou,  and  the  names  of 
months  and  days,  nor  in  the  more  important  articles  of  refus- 
ing the  oath  of  allegiance  to  civil  government  and  a  defen- 
sive war.  After  his  return  from  England,  his  character  as 
a  member  of  civil  society,  and  as  a  ruler,  stands  unimpeached 
in  their  records.  And  as  Fox  in  his  book  in  folio  had  said, 
"  The  Scriptures  are  the  words  of  God,  but  Christ  is  the 
word  of  God  in  whom  they  end ;  and  it  is  not  blasphemy 
[as  an  author  said  it  was]  to  say  the  soul  is  part  of  God,  for 
it  comes  out  of  him,  and  rejoiceth  in  him  ;"  which  John 
Stubs  tried  to  defend  against  Mr.  Williams,  from  those 
words,  God  breathed  into  man  the  breath  of  life  ;  Gorton, 
desiring  liberty  to  speak,  said,  "  If  it  be  affirmed  that  God 
can  be  divided,  and  that  man  was  a  part  of  God,  the  God- 
head was  destroyed,  and  the  soul  of  man It  is  in  the 

margin,  the  breath  of  lives,  which  Stubs  acknowledged."1 

On  September  2,  1656,  the  Assembly  at  Boston  wrote  to 
the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  said  : — 

Having  heard  some  time  since,  that  our  neighbor  colony  of  Plymouth, 
our  beloved  brethren,  in  a  great  part  seem  to  be  wanting  to  themselves,  in 
a  due  acknowledgment  and  encouragement  to  the  ministry  of  the  gospel, 
so  as  many  pious  ministers  (how  justly  we  know  not)  have  deserted  their 
Stations,  callings,  and  relations  ;  our  desire  is,  that  some  such  course,  may 
be  taken,  as  that  a  pious  orthodox  ministry  may  be  re-stated  among  them, 
that  so  the  flood  of  errors,  aud  principles  of  anarchy,  [which  will  not  long 
be  kept  out  where  Satan  and  his  instruments  are  so  prevalent  as  to  prevail 
to  the  crying  down  of  ministry  and  ministers]  may  be  prevented.  Here 
have  [hath]  arrived  amongst  us  several  persons,  professing  themselves 
Quakers,  fit  instruments  to  propagate  the  kingdom  of  Satan  ;  for  the  secur- 
ing of  ourselves  aud  our  neighbors  from  such  pests,  we  have  imprisoned 
them  till  they  be  despatched  away  to  the   place   from    whence  they    came. 

'Williams,  1G72,  pp.  144.  145. 


[1657.]       MASSACHUSETTS'  PROVISION  FOR  THE  MINISTRY.        247 

....  We  hope  that  some  general  rules  may  be  commended  to  each  General 
Court,  to  prevent  the  coming  [in]  amongst  us,  from  foreign  places  such 
notorious  heretics  as  Quakers,  Ranters,  &c. 

The  Commissioners  replied  as  follows  : — 

The  Commissioners  having  considered  the  premises,  cannot  but  acknow- 
ledge the  godly  care  and  zeal  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Massachusetts  to 
uphold  and  maintain  those  professed  ends  of  coming  into  these  parts,  and 
of  combination  of  the  United  Colonies,  which,  if  not  attended  in  the  particu- 
lars aforesaid,  will  be  rendered  wholly  frustrate,  our  profession  miserably 
scandalized,  ourselves  become  a  reproach  in  the  eyes  of  those  that  cannot 
without  admiration  behold  our  sudden  defection  from  our  first  principles. 

From  this  they  went  on  to  inculcate  what  Massachusetts 
Assembly  had  proposed.1 

Though  the  Massachusetts  rulers  knew  not  whether  those 
ministers  had  deserted  their  stations  justly  or  not,  yet  they 
had  approved  of  the  settlement  of  Mr.  John  Mayo  in  Bos- 
ton, Mr.  Edward  Bulkley  at  Concord,  Mr.  John  Reyner  at 
Dover  (who  preached  in  Boston,  the  winter  after  he  left 
Plymouth,)  Mr.  Richard  Blinman  at  Cape  Ann,  &c.,  all  of 
whom  were  ministers  in  Plymouth  colony,  when  the  col- 
onies confederated  together  in  1613.  We  learn  also  that 
Mr.  John  Norton  arrived  at  Plymouth  in  1635,  where  he 
preached  the  following  winter,  and  Mr.  Smith  their  pastor 
resigned  his  place  to  him,  "  and  the  church  used  him  with 
all  respect,  and  large  offers,  yet  he  left  them,  ....  alleging 
that  his  spirit  could  not  unite  with  them.2  He  went  and 
settled  at  Ipswich,  but  after  Mr.  Cotton's  death  removed  and 
took  his  place  in  Boston,  where  he  with  his  colleague  had 
not  a  little  hand  in  spiriting  up  others  to  the  above  described 
measures.  Another  vigorous  hand  in  the  same  work  was 
Mr.  Cobbet,  who  arrived  at  Boston  in  1637,  wrote  against 
the  Baptists  in  1645,  was  minister  at  Lynn,  when  they  suf- 
fered there  in  1651,  but  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Nathaniel 
Rogers,  took  his  place  at  Ipswich,  where  the  town,  on  Feb. 
25th,  this  year,  voted  to  give  him  a  hundred  pounds  to  buy 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  283—285. 
2Winthrop,  [Vol.  I,  p.  175.]  Hubbard,  [274.] 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

or  build  him  a  house,  and  taxed  all  the  inhabitants  to  pay 
it.  This  being  a  new  thing  with  them,  several  persons 
would  not  comply  with  the  scheme  ;  therefore  distress  was 
made  upon  them  in  1657.  Samuel  Symonds,  Esq.,  descend- 
ed from  an  ancient  and  honorable  family  in  Essex  in  Eng- 
land, was  then  one  of  the  Massachusetts  magistrates,  and  at 
last  died  their  Deputy  Governor.  Before  him  George  Gid- 
dings  prosecuted  Edward  Brown,  for  seizing  his  pewter  for 
said  tax.  The  justice  gave  the  plaintiff  damage  and  costs, 
for  which  judgment  he  rendered  these  reasons  : — 

I  understand  this  to  be  about  a  fundamental  law ;  such  a  law  as 
that  God  and  nature  has  [have]  given  to  a  people  ;  so  that  it  is  in  the 
trust  of  their  governors  iu  highest  place  and  others  to  preserve,  but 
not  in  their  power  to  take  away  from  them.  Of  this  sort  are  these, 
viz.  :  1.  Election  of  the  supreme  governors.  2.  That  every  subject 
shall  and  may  enjoy  what  he  hath  a  civil  right  unto,  so  as  it  cannot  be 
taken  from  him,  by  way  of  gift  or  loan,  to  the  use  or  to  be  made  the 
right  or  property  of  another  man,  without  his  own  free  consent.  3. 
That  such  laws,  (though  called  liberties)  yet  more  properly  may  be  called 
rights,  and  in  this  sense  this  may  be  added,  as  a  t  ird  fundamental  law, 
viz.  : — That  no  custom  or  precedent  ought  to  prevail  in  any  moral  case, 
that  may  appear  to  be  sinful  in  respect  of  the  breach  of  any  law   of  piety 

against  the  first  table,  or  of  righteousness   against  the  second I  shall 

add  ....  that  it  is  against  a  fundamental  law  iu  nature,  to  be  compelled  to 
pay  that  which  others  do  give  ;  for  then  no  man  hath  any  certainty,  or 
right  to  what  he  hath  ;  if  it  be  in  the  power  of  others  by  pretence  of 
authority  or  without,  to  give  it  away  (when  in  their  prudence  they  con- 
ceive it  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  owner)  without  his  own   consent 

The  parliament  may  tax,  and  that  justly,  the  whole  country  to  give  a  [gift 
or]  reward  to  one  man  for  some  service,  for  they  are  betrusted  so  to  do. 
The  reason  is,  it  is  levied  upon  the  whole  country,  with  their  consent,  and 
for  the  immediate  benefit  of  the  whole.  But  if  they  should  do  it  between 
persons  (though  they  should  do  it  [so  do]  by  power,  and  the  person 
wronged  hath  no  remedy  in  this  world;  yet  it  should  be  accounted  tyranny. 
Is  it  not  to  take  from  Peter  and  give  unto  [it  to]  Paul  ? 

Then  after  mentioning  the  law  for  ministers'  salaries,1  he 
says  : — 

Yet  the  law  was  framed  so   as  such  churches  as  chose  to  go  in  a  volun- 

JSee  page  79 


[1657.]  MEASURES  IN  REGARD  TO  QUAKERS.  249 

tary  way  of  weekly  contribution,  might  so  continue,  as  some  churches  in 
the  country  do  to  this  day. 

After  an  appeal  to  the  County  Court,  the  question,  with 
the  reasons  each  party  had  for  and  against  it,  was  put  to 
the  General  Court,  whether  the  town  vote  for  giving  the 
said  hundred  pounds,  bound  the  inhabitants,  so  that  any  of 
them  who  were  unwilling,  might  be  compelled  to  pay  it,  or 
not?  On  October  20th,  1657,  the  deputies  resolved  it  in 
the  negative,  which  was  non-concurred  by  the  Council ;  and 
influence  enough  was  made  the  next  day  to  bring  a  majority 
of  the  House  round  to  the  compelling  side.1 

Neither  could  they  be  content  with  using  compulsion 
themselves,  but  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies, 
wrote  to  that  of  Providence,  September  25,  1656,  to  try  to 
draw  them  into  their  measures  towards  the  Quakers.  To 
this  the  Assembly  at  Portsmouth,  gave  an  answer,  on  March 
13,  1657,  wherein  they  say: — 

Whereas  freedom  of  different  consciences  to  be  protected  from  inforce- 
ments,  was  the  principal  ground  of  our  charter,  both  with  respect,  to  our 
humble  suit  for  it,  as  also  to  the  true  intent  of  the  honorable  and  renowned 
parliament  of  England,  in  granting  of  the  same  to  us,  which  freedom  we 
still  prize,  as  the  greatest  happiness  that  men  can  possess  in  this  world, 
therefore  we  shall  for  the  preservation  of  our  civil  peace  and  order,  the 
more  especially  [seriously]  take  notice  that  those  people,  and  any  others 
that  are  here,  or  shall  come  among  us,  be  impartially  required,  and  to  our 

utmost,  constrained  to  perform  all  civil  duties  requisite And  in  case 

they  refuse  it,  we  resolve  to  [take  and]  make  use  of  the  first   opportunity 
to  inform  our  agent,  residing  in  England,  &c. 

They  close  with  thankful  acknowledgments  of  the  Com- 

^assachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  287—308.  So  in  October,  1658,  the  major- 
ity of  the  House  were  against  the  law,  to  banish  Quakers  on  pain  of  death ;  but  the 
Council,  with  the  help  of  some  ministers,  at  last  prevailed  to  carry  it,  by  the  major- 
ity of  only  one  vote ;  which,  when  deacon  Wozel  [or  Wiswal]  understood,  he  wept, 
and  though  illness  caused  his  absence,  yet  had  notice  been  given  him,  he  said,  "  If 
he  had  not  been  able  to  go,  he  would  have  crept  upon  his  hands  and  knees,  rather 
than  it  should  have  been."  Thus  those  oppressions  were  carried  on  by  a  few  men, 
against  the  sense  of  the  best  part  of  the  community.  Endicott,  Bellingham,  Brad- 
street  and  Denison,  with  the  ministers  they  sat  under,  were  as  guilty  in  this  respect 
as  any.  Bishop's  New  England  Judged,  [Grove's  Abridgment,  pp.  101,  102.] 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  198,  [182.] 


250  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

missioners'    care    they  had   expressed  for  the   peace  and 
welfare  of  the  whole  country,  and  saying : — 

We  rest  yours,  most  affectionately,  desirous  of  your  honorable  [honors 
and]  welfare. 

John  Sanford,  Clerk  of  Assembly. 

This  did  not  content  those  Commissioners  ;  but  they  wrote 
again  the  next  fall,  to  which  Governor  Arnold  and  his  Court 
returned  an  answer,  October  13th,  which  has  been  pub- 
lished.1 And  the  contention  growing  more  terrible  the  year 
after,  the  Assembly  at  Warwick,  November  5th,  165b,  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Olney,  Mr.  Gorton  and  Mr.  Crandal,  who  had 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  526,  527.  [453,  454.]— B. 

The  letter  was  as  follows  : — 

"Much  honored  Gentlemen: — Please  you  to  understand  that  there  hath  come 
to  our  view  a  letter  subscribed  by  the  honored  gentlemen,  Commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies,  the  contents  whereof  are  a  request  concerning  certain  people 
called  Quakers,  come  among  us  lately,  &c. 

"  Our  desires  are,  in  all  things  possible,  to  pursue  after  and  keep  fair  and  loving 
correspondence  and  intercourse  with  all  the  colonies  and  with  all  our  countrymen 
in  New  England,  and  to  that  purpose  we  have  endeavored  (and  shall  still  endeavor) 
to  answer  the  desires  and  requests  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  coming  unto  us, 
in  all  just  and  equal  returns  ;  to  which  end,  the  colony  have  made  suitable  provision 
to  preserve  a  just  and  equal  intercourse  between  the  colonies  and  us,  by  giving 
justice  to  any  that  demand  it  among  as,  and  by  returning  such  as  make  escapes 
from  you,  or  from  the  other  colonies,  being  such  as  fly  from  the  hands  of  justice, 
for  matters  of  crime  done  or  committed  amongst  you,  &c.  And  as  concerning  these 
Quakers,  (so  called,)  which  are  now  among  us,  we  have  no  law  among  us*  whereby 
to  punish  any  for  only  declaring  by  words,  &c,  their  minds  and  understandings  con- 
cerning the  ways  and  things  of  God  as  to  salvation  and  an  eternal  condition.  And 
moreover  we  find  that  in  those  places  where  these  people  aforesaid,  in  this  colony, 
are  most  of  all  suffered  to  declare  themselves  freely,  and  are  only  opposed  by  argu- 
ments in  discourse,  there  they  least  of  all  desire  to  come,  and  we  are  informed  that 
they  begin  to  loath  this  place,  for  that  they  are  not  opposed  by  the  civil  authority, 
but  with  all  patience  and  meekness  are  suffered  to  say  over  their  pretended  revela- 
tions and  admonitions,  nor  are  they  like  or  able  to  gain  many  here  to  their  way; 
and  surely  we  find  that  they  delight  to  be  persecuted  by  civil  powers,  and  when  they 
are  so,  they  are  like  to  gain  more  adherents  by  the  conceit  of  their  patient  suffer- 
ings than  by  consent  to  their  pernicious  sayings.  And  yet  we  conceive  that  their 
doctrines  tend  to  very  absolute  cutting  down  and  overturning  relations  and  civil 
government  among  men,  if  generally  received.  Bat  as  to  the  damage  that  may  in 
likelihood  accrue  to  the  neighbor  colonies  by  their  being  entertained,  we  conceive 
it  will  not  prove  so  dangerous,  (as  else  it  might)  in  regard  of  the  course  taken  by 
you  to  send  them  away  out  of  the  country  as  they  come  among  you.  But,  however, 
at  present  we  judge  it  requisite,  and  do  intend  to  commend  the  consideration  of 
their  extravagant  outgoings  unto  the  General  Assembly  of  our  colony  in  March 


[1658.]  LETTER  TO  MR.  CLARKE.  251 

suffered  from  them  at  Boston,  with  Mr.  Trip,  to  draw  a  let- 
ter to  their  agent  in  England,1  which  is  as  follows  : — 

Worthy  sir,  and  trusty  friend,  Mr.  Clarke  : — We  have  found,  not 
only  your  ability  and  diligence,  but  also  your  love  and  care  to  be  such  con- 
cerning the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  this  colony,  since  you  have  been  en- 
trusted with  the  more  public  affairs  thereof,  surpassing  the  [that]  no  small 
benefit  which  [formerly]  we  had  of  your  presence  here  at  home,  that  we  in 
all  straits  and  incumbrances,  are  emboldened  to  repair  unto  you,  for  further 
and  continued  care,  counsel  and  help,  finding  that  your  solid  and  Christian 
demeanor  hath  gotten  uo  small  interest  in  the  hearts  of  our  superiors, 
those  noble  and  worthy  senators,  with  whom  you  had  to  do  in  our  behalf, 
as  it  hath  constantly  appeared  in  our  [your]  addresses  made  unto  them, 
[which]  we  have  by  good  and  comfortable  proofs  found,  having  plentiful 
experience  thereof.  The  last  year  we  had  laden  you  with  much  employ- 
ment, which  we  were  then  put  upon  by  reason  of  some  too  refractory  among 
ourselves,  wherein  we  appealed  unto  you  for  advice,  for  the  more  public 
manifestation  of  it,  with  respect  to  our  superiors  ;  but  our  intelligence  [it 
seems]  fell  short  in  that  great  loss  of  the  ship,  which  we  concluded  [is  con- 
ceived] here  to  be  cast  away.  We  have  now  a  new  occasion  given  us  by 
an  old  spirit,  with  respect  to  the  colonies  round  about  us,  who  [which] 
seem  to  be  offended  with  us  because  of  a  sort  of  people,  called  by  the  name 
of  Quakers,  who  are  come  amongst  us,  who  [and]  have  raised  up  divers 
who  at  present  seem  to  be  of  their  spirit,  whereat  the  colonies  about  us 
seem  to  be  offended  with  us,  being  the  said  people  have  their  liberty  with 
[amongst]  us,  are  entertained  in  our  houses,  or  any  of  our  assemblies  ; 
and  for  the  present  we  have  found  no  just  cause  to  charge  them  with  the 
breach  of  the  civil  peace  ;  only  they  are  constantly  going  forth  amongst 
them  about  us,  and  vex  and  trouble  them  about  [in  point  of]  their  religion 
and  spiritual  state,  though  they  return  with  many  a  foul  scar  in  their  bodies 

next,  where  we  hope  there  will  be  such  order  taken,  as  may,  in  all  honest  and  con- 
scientious manner,  prevent  the  bad  effects  of  their  doctrines  and  endeavors;  and  so, 
in  all  courteous  and  loving  respects,  and  with  desire  of  all  honest  and  fair  com- 
merce with  you,  and  the  rest  of  our  honored  and  beloved  countrymen,  we  rest, 
Yours  in  all  loving  respects  to  serve  you, 

Benedict  Arnold,  President. 
William  Baulston, 
Randall  Howlden, 
Arthur  Fenner, 
William  Field. 
From  Providence,  at  the  Court  of  Trials  held  for  the  Colony,  October  13,  1057. 
To  the  much  honored,  the  General  Court,  sitting  at  Boston,  for  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts." — Ed. 

'They  were  "  chosen  and  authorized  to  draw  up  a  letter  to  be  sent  to  Mr.  John 
Clarke,  in  England,  to  be  presented  to  his  Highness  and  Council."  Rhode  Island 
Records. — Ed. 


252  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

for  the  same.1  And  the  offence  our  neighbors  take  against  us,  is  because 
we  take  not  some  course  against  the  said  people,  either  to  expel  them  from 
amongst  us,  or  take  such  courses  against  them  as  themselves  Jo,  who  are 
in  fear  lest  their  religion  should  be  corrupted  by  them.  Concerning  which 
displeasure  that  they  seem  to  take,  it  was  expressed  to  us  in  a  solemn  let- 
ter, written  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  at  their  sitting, 
as  though  they  would  either  bring  us  in  to  act  according  to  their  scantling, 
or  else  take  some  course  to  do  us  a  greater  displeasure.  A  copy  of  which 
letter  we  have  herewith  sent  unto  you,  wherein  you  may  perceive  how  they 
express  themselves  ;  as  also  we  have  herewith  sent  our  present  answer 
unto  them,  to  give  you  what  light  we  may  in  the  matter.  There  is  one 
clause  in  the  [their]  letter  which  plainly  implies  a  threat,  though  courtly 
[covertly]  expressed  as  their  manner  is  ;  which  we  gather  to  be  this,  that 
[as]  themselves  (as  we  construe  [conceive]  it)  have  been  much  awed  in 
point  of  [their]  continued  subjection  to  the  state  of  England,  lest  in  case 
they  should  decline,  England  might  prohibit  all  trade  with  them,  both  in 
point  of  exportation  and  importation  of  any  commodities,  which  were  an 
host  sufficiently  prevalent  to  subdue  New  Eugland,  not  being  able  to  sub- 
sist ;  even  so  they  seem  [secretly]  to  threaten  us,  by  cutting  us  off  from 
all  commerce  and  trade  with  them,  and  thereby  to  disable  us  of  any  com- 
fortable subsistance,  being  that  the  concourse  of  shipping,  and  all  other 
sorts  [so  of  all  kinds]  of  commodities  are  universally  conversant  among 
themselves  ;  as  also  knowing  that  ourselves  are  not  in  a  capacity  to  send 
out  shipping  of  ourselves,  which  in  great  measure  is  occasioned  by  their 
oppressing  of  us,  as  yourself  well  knows  ;  as  in  many  other  respects  so  in 
this  for  one,  that  we  cannot  have  anything  from  them,  for  the  supply  of  our 
necessities,  but  in  effect  they  make  the  price,  both  of  our  commodities  and 
their  own.  Also,  because  we  have  no  English  coin,  but  only  that  which 
passeth  among  these  barbarians,  and  such  commodities  as  are  raised  by  the 
labor  of  our  hands,  as  corn,  cattle,  tobacco,  &c,  to  make  payment  in, 
which  they  will  have  at  their  own  rates,  or  else  not  deal  with  us  ;  where- 
by, though  they  gain  extraordinarily  by  us,  yet,  for  the  safeguard  of  their 
[own]  religion,  they  may  seem  to  neglect  themselves  in  that  respect ;  for 
what  ivill  not  men  do  for  their  God?  Sir,  this  is  our  earnest  and  pressing 
request  unto  you  in  this  matter,  that  as  you  may  perceive  by  our  auswer 
unto  the  Uuited  Colonies  [that]  we  fly  as  our  refuge  in  all  civil  respects  to 
his  Highness  and  Honorable  Council,  as  not  being  subject  to  any  other  in 
matters  of  our  civil  state,  so  may  it  please  you  to  have  an  eye  aud  ear 
open  in  case  our  adversaries  should  speak  [seek]  to  undermine  us  in  our 
privileges  granted  unto  us,  and  plead  our  cause  in   such    sort,    as  that  we 

'Many  were  whipped,  some  were  branded,  and  Holder,  Copeland  and  Rouse, 
three  single  young  men,  had  each  his  right  ear  cut  off  in  the  prison  at  Boston,  the 
lGth  of  September  this  year.      Grove's  Abridgment  of  Bishop,  pp.  64,  91,  92. 


[1658.]  LAWS  AGAINST  QUAKERS.  253 

may  not  be  compelled  to  exercise  any  civil  power  over  men's  consciences, 
so  long  as  human  orders  in  point  of  civility  are  not  corrupted  and  violated, 
which  our  neighbors  about  us  do  frequently  practice,  whereof  many  of  us 
have  absolute  [large]  experience,  and  [do]  judge   it  to   be   no  less  than  a 

point  of  ABSOLUTE  CRUELTY. 

John  Sanford,  Clerk  of  Assembly.1 

The  Commissioners  of  the  colonies  who  met  at  Boston, 
September  2,  1658,  and  continued  their  meeting  to  Septem- 
ber 23,  closed  their  acts  with  saying: — 

Whereas  there  is  an  accursed  and  pernicious  sect  of  heretics,  lately  risen 
up  in  the  world,  who  are  commonly  called  Quakers,  who  take  upon  them 
to  be  immediately  sent  of  God,  aud  infallibly  assisted,  who  do  speak  and 
write  blasphemous  things,  despising  government,  and  the  order  of  God  in 
church  and  commonwealth  ;  speaking  evil  of  dignities,  reproaching  and 
reviling  magistrates,  and  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  seeking  to  turn  the 
people  from  the  faith,  and  to  gain  proselytes  to  their  pernicious  ways  ;  and 
whereas  the  several  jurisdictions  have  made  divers  laws  to  prohibit  their 
coming  amongst  them  ;  (but  they  refusing  to  obey  them,  and  still  making 
disturbance)  it  is  therefore  propounded,  and  seriously  commended  to  the 
several  General  Courts,  ....  to  make  a  law,  that  all  Quakers  formerly 
convicted  and  punished  as  such,  shall  (if  they  return  again)  be  imprisoned, 
and  forthwith  banished  or  expelled  out  of  the  said  jurisdiction,  under  pain 
of  death. 

All  the  eight  Commissioners  signed  this  advice,  only  the 
Governor  of  Connecticut  said,  "  Looking  at  the  last  as  a 
query  and  not  an  act,  I  subscribe,  John  Winthrop."2     Such 

*As  Oliver  Cromwell  died  Sept.  3,  1658,  and  his  son  Richard  was  chosen  Protector 
in  his  stead,  their  Assembly  of  May  17,  1G59,  sent  an  address  to  the  latter,  wherein 
they  say,  "  May  it  please  your  Highness  to  know,  that  this  poor  colony  of  Provi- 
dence Plantations,  mostly  consists  of  a  birth  and  breeding  of  the  providence  of  the 
Most  High,  we  being  an  outcast  people,  formerly  from  our  mother  nation  in  the 
bishops'  days,  and  since  from  the  New  English  over-zealous  colonies;  our  whole 
frame  being  like  unto  the  present  frame  arid  constitution  of  our  dearest  mother 
England ;  bearing  with  the  several  judgments  and  consciences  each  of  other  in  all 
the  towns  of  our  colony  [the]  which  our  neighbor  colonies   do   not,  which  is  the 

only  cause  of  their  great  offence  against  us Sir,  we  dare  not  interrupt  your  high 

affairs  with  the  particulars  of  our  wilderness  condition,  only  [we]  beg  your  eye  of 
favor  to  be  cast  upon  our  faithful  agent,  Mr.  John  Clarke,  and  unto  what  humble 
addresses  he  shall  at  any  time  present  your  Highness  with  in  our  behalf."  Colony 
Records. 

2Records  of  the  United  Colonies.  The  other  Commissioners  were  Endicott  and 
Bradstreet,  of  Massachusetts ;  Prince  and  Winslow,  of  Plymouth ;  Taliot,  of  Con- 
necticut ;  and  Newman  and  Leet,  of  New  Haven. 


254  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

a  law  was  made  at  Boston  the  next  month,  but  the  like  was 
not  done  in  any  of  the  other  colonies.  At  Plymouth  they 
had  prevailed  for  two  years  past,  with  the  majority  of  the 
Court,  to  imprison,  fine  and  whip  the  Quakers,  and  to  send 
some  of  them  out  of  che  colony  ;  and  the  manner  of  their 
proceedings  was  as  follows  : — 

Mr.  John  Brown,  who  had  long  been  one  of  their  magis- 
trates, and  often  a  commissioner  for  his  colony,  took  a  voy- 
age to  England.  Captain  James  Cud  worth  of  Scituate,  was  a 
magistrate  these  two  years  ;  and  near  the  beginning  of  this 
year  he  entertained  Copeland  and  Brend,  two  of  the  Qua- 
kers, at  his  house  a  night  or  two,  and  says: — 

I  thought  it  better  so  to  do,  than  with  the  bliud  world,  to  censure,  con- 
demn and  rail  at  them,  when  they  neither  saw  their  persons,  nor  knew  any 
of  their  principles  ;  but  the  Quakers  and  myself  cannot  close  in  divers 
things  ;  and  so  I  signified  to  the  Court,  I  was  no  Quaker,  but  must  bear 
my  testimony  against  sundry  things  that  they  held,  as  I  had  occasion  and 
opportunity.  But  withal  I  told  them,  that  as  I  was  no  Quaker,  so  I  would 
be  no  persecutor.  This  spirit  worked  in  those  two  years  that  I  was  of  the 
magistracy  ;  during  which  time,  I  was  on  sundry  occasions  forced  to  declare 
my  dissent,  in  sundry  actings  of  that  nature  ;  which,  although  I  did  with 
all  moderation  of  expression,  together  with  respect  unto  the  rest,  yet  it 
wrought  great  disaffection  and  prejudice  against  me. 

A  person  took  pains  to  go  to  Marshfield  to  procure  a  war- 
rant to  apprehend  the  Quakers  he  had  entertained,  which 
Mr.  Hatherly  understanding,  said,  "  Mr.  Envy  hath  pro- 
cured this  ;"  and  in  lieu  of  it,  gave  them  a  pass  under  his 
hand,  with  which  they  travelled  to  Plymouth  ;  but  were 
there  seized  and  whipr>ed  by  order  of  three  other  magis- 
trates.    And  says  Captain  Cudworth : — 

Truly  the  whipping  of  them  with  that  cruelty  as  some  have  been,  and 
their  patience  under  it  hath  sometimes  been  the  occasion  of  gaining  more 
adherence  to  them,  than  if  they  had  suffered  them  openly  to  have  preached 

u  sermon The  Massachusetts  after  they  have  whipped   thorn,   and  cut 

their  ears,  they  have  now  gone  the  farthest  step  they  cau  ;  they  banish  them 
upon  pain  of  death,  if  ever  they  come  there  again.  We  expect  we  must 
do  the   like  ;  we    must    dance    after  their  pipe  ;  now  Plymouth  saddle    is 


[1658.]  CAPTAIN  CUDWOETH'S  TESTIMONY.  255 

on  the  Bay  horse,  we  shall  follow  them  on  the  career All  these  car- 
nal and  antichristian  ways  being  not  of  God's  appointment,  effect  nothing 
as  to  hindering  of  them  in  their  way  or  course.  It  is  only  the  word  and 
spirit  of  the  Lord,  that  is  able  to  convince  gainsayers.  They  are  the 
mighty  weapons  of  the   Christian   warfare,  by    which    great   and   mighty 

things  are  done  and  accomplished Our  civil  powers   are   so  exercised 

in  things  appertaining  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  in  matters  of  religion  and 
conscience,  that  we  can  have  no  time  to  effect  any  thing  that  tends  to  the 
promotion  of  the  civil  weal,  or  prosperity  of  the  place  ;  but  now  we  must 
have  a  state  religion,  such  as  the  powers  of  the  world  will  allow,  and  no 
other  ;  a  state  ministry,  and  a  state  way  of  maintenance';  and  we  must 
worship  and  serve  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  the  world  shall  appoint  us.  We  must 
all  go  to  the  public  place  of  meeting,  in  the  parish  where  we  dwell,  or  be 
presented.  I  am  informed  of  three  or  fourscore  last  Court,  presented  for 
not  coming  to  public  meetings  ;  and  let  me  tell  you  how  they  brought  this 
about.  You  may  remember  a  law  once  made,  called  Thomas  Hinckley's 
law,  That  if  any  neglected  the  worship  of  God,  in  the  place  where  he  lives, 
and  set  up  a  worship  contrary  to  God,  and  the  allowance  of  this  govern- 
ment, to  the  public  profanation  of  God's  holy  day  and  ordinance,  [he] 
shall  pay  ten  shillings.  This  law  would  not  reach  what  then  was  aimed  at ; 
because  he  must  do  so  and  so  ;  that  is,  all  things  therein  expressed,  or  else 
break  not  the  law.  In  March  last,  a  Court  of  Deputies  was  called,  and 
some  acts  touching  Quakers  were  made  ;  and  then  they  contrived  to  make 
this  law  serviceable  to  them  ;  and  that  was  by  putting  out  the  word  "And," 
and  putting  in  the  word  "  Or,"  which  is  a  disjunctive,  and  makes  every 
branch  become  a  law.     So  now,   if  any  neglect,  or    will  not   come  to  the 

public  meetings,  ten  shillings  for  every  defect And  these  men  altering 

this  law  last  March,  yet  left  it  dated,  June  6th,  1651,1  and  so  it  stands  as 
the  act  of  a  General  Court ;  they  to  be  the  authors  of  it  seven  years  before 
it  was  in  being  ;  and  so  yourselves  have  your  part  and  share  in  it,  if  the 
records  lie  not.  But  what  may  be  the  reason  that  they  should  not  by 
another  law,  made  and  dated  by  that  Court,  as  well  effect  what  was  intend- 
ed, as  by  altering  a  word,  and  so  the  whole  sense  of  the  law  ;  and  leave 
this  their  act,  by  the  date  of  it,  charged  on  another  Court's  account?  Surely 
the  chief  instruments  in  the  business,  being  privy  to  an  act  of  parliament 
for  liberty,  should  too  openly  have  acted  repugnant  to  a  law  of  England  ; 
but  if  they  can  do  the  thing,  and  leave  it  on  a  Court,  as  making  it  six  years 

^hese  things  Capt.  Cudworth  wrote  to  Mr.  Brown,  then  in  England,  who  let 
Bishop  publish  them,  pages  168 — 176.  Morton  says  that  Mr.  Dunstar,  "was  useful 
and  helping  in  defending  the  truth  against  the  Quakers ;  and  that  he  fell  asleep 
in  the  Lord,  in  1659."  [186.]  After  Mr.  Brown  returned  from  England,  he  and  Cud- 
worth  were  called  to  account  for  this  letter,  but  were  not  punished.  Cudworth  was 
restored  to  the  magistracy  in  1674,  and  died  their  Deputy  Governor,  in  1681.  Ply- 
mouth Records. 


256  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

before  the  act  of  parliament,  there  can  be  no  danger  in  this If  we  can 

but  keep  the  people  ignorant  of  their  liberties  and  privileges,  then  we  have 

liberty  to  act  in  our  own  wills  what  we  please Through  mercy  we  have 

yet  among  us  worthy  Mr.  Dunstar,  whom  the   Lord    hath   made  boldly  to 
bear  testimony  against  the  spirit  of  persecution.1 

For  the  above  things  those  two  magistrates  Hatherly  and 
Cud  worth  were  left  out  of  all  their  offices,  in  June,  this 
year.  At  the  same  time  it  •  is  meet  that  posterity  should 
know  how  those  Quakers  behaved  under  their  sufferings. 
Humphrey  Norton,  one  of  their  teachers  and  authors,  was 
sent  out  of  Plymouth  colony  in  1657,  for  being  an  extrava- 
gant person  ;2  which  charge,  says  Bishop,  could  not  be 
proved.  On  election  day,  June  1st,  1658,  he  and  John 
Rouse  came  again  to  Plymouth,  and  were  taken  up  and 
whipped,  Norton  twenty-three  lashes,  and  Rouse  fifteen, 
which,  Bishop  says,  li  they  received  for  no  other  thing  but 
for  coming  into  that  colony  in  the  will  of  God.''3  The  rec- 
ords inform  us,  that  when  they  were  brought  before  the 
Assembly,  June  3d,  Norton  "  said  unto  the  Governor  sun- 
dry times,  Thou  liest !  and  said  unto  him,  Thomas,  thou  art  a 
malicious  man,  Sec.  For  these  things,  and  for  refusing  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  any  civil  government,  they  were  then 
whipped,  and  for  officers'  fees  were  imprisoned  till  the  tenth, 
when  they  were  released,  and  went  to  Rhode  Island,  where, 
on  the  16th,  Norton  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr.  Alden,  one  of 
their  magistrates,  and  another  to  the  Governor,  with  an 
answer  to  Christopher  Winter's  deposition  against  them,  all 
which  the  Court  ordered  to  be  recorded."  The  beginning 
and  end  of  that  to  the  Governor,  I  took  from  thence  with 
my  own  hand,  which  is  in  the  words  and  letters  following  : — 

Thomas  Prince,  thow  who  hast  bent  thy  hart  to  worke  wickedness,  and 
with  thy  tongue  hast  thow  set  forth  deceite  ;  thou  imagineat  mischief  upon  thy 

'See  page  178,  note. 

2In  the  Massachusetts  Records  his  offense  is  somewhat  differently  stated.  "  Octo- 
ber G,  1667.  At  this  Court,  Humphrey  Norton,  one  of  those  eomnionly  called  Qua- 
kers, being  summoned,  appeared  and  was  examined  and  found  guilty  of  divers 
horrid  errors,  and  was  sentenced  speedily  to  depart  the  government  and  was  forth- 
with expelled  the  government  hy  the  under  marshal." — En. 

3New  England  Judged,  [Grove's  Abridgement,]  pp.  1G3— 179. 


[1658.]  VIEWS  OF  THE  QUAKERS  ON  GOVERNMENT.  257 

bed,  and  hatcheth  thy  hatred  in  thy  cecrett  chamber ;  the  strength  of  dark- 
nes  is  over  thee,  and  a  malliciouse  mouth  hast  thow  opened  against  God 
and  his  anointed,  and  with  thy  tongue  and  lipps  hast  thow  uttered  perverse 
things  ;  thow  hast  slaundered  the  innocent  by  railing,  lying  and  false  accu- 
sations, and  with  thy  barborouse  hart  hast  thow  caused  theire  bloud  to  bee 
shed.  Thow  hast  through  all  these  things  broke  and  transgresed  the  laws 
and  waies  of  God,  and  equitie  is  not  before  thy  eyes.  The  curse  causles 
cannot  come  upon  thee,  nor  the  vengance   of  God  unjustly  cannot   fetch 

thee  up  ;  thow   makest  thyself  merry  with   thy  cecrett   mallice The 

day  of  thy  wailing  will  bee  like  unto  that  of  a  woman  that  murthers  the 
fruite  of  her  wombe  ;  the  anguish  and  paine  that  will  enter  upon  thy  reignes 
will  be  like  knawing  worms  lodging  betwixt  thy  hart  and  liver  :  When 
these  things  come  upon  thee,  and  thy  backe  bowed  downe  with  pain,  in 
that  day  and  houre  thow  shalt  know  to  thy  griefe,  that  prophetts  of  the 
Lord  God  wee  are,  and  the  God  of  vengance  is  our  God. 

Humphrey   Norton. 

I  have  sent  thee  heer  inclosed  a  reply  to  C.  Winter's  deposition,  alsoe  I 
have  sent  already  a  true  relation  of  parte  of  thy  proceedings  towards  Lon- 
don, with  a  coppy  of  the  fines  laid  on,  and  levied  of  the  people  of  God, 
with  a  coppy  of  thy  late  laws. 

Superscribed,  For  the  governor  of  Plymouth  pattent,  this  with  care  and 


After  this  prophecy  Mr.  Prince  continued  Governor  of 
that  colony  near  fourteen  years,  and  then  died  in  peace,  (for 
ought  we  know).  His  son  was  a  justice  of  peace  in  his  day, 
and  his  grandson  was  a  learned  and  pious  minister  at  Bos- 
ton, whose  writings  have  furnished  many  valuable  materials 
for  our  history.  It  ought  also  to  be  known,  that  in  rending  the 
rocks  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  exalting  that  which  is  low, 
the  Quakers  meant  to  have  civil  as  well  as  ecclesiastical 
government  managed  by  the  above  described  power.  For 
in  those  times  George  Fox  published  a  large  book  in  folio, 
in  the  170th  page  of  which  he  said  : — 

The  magistrate  of  Christ,  the  help  government  for  him.  he  is  in  the  light 
and  power  of  Christ ;  and  he  is  to  subject  all  under  the  power  of  Christ, 
into  his  light,  else  he  is  not  a  faithful  magistrate  :  and  his  laws  here  are 
agreeable,  and  answerable  according  to  that  of  God  in  every  man  ;  when 
men  act  contrary  to  it,  they  do  evil ;  so  he  is  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  dis- 
cerneth  the  precious  and  the  just  from  the  vile;  and  this  is  a  praise  to 
them  that  do  well. 
17 


258  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

When  Mr.  Williams  mentioned  this  passage,  as  one  proof, 
that  their  spirit  tended  to  arbitrary  government,  and  fiery 
persecution,  they  said  upon  it : — 

le  there  one  word  of  persecution  here?  Or  can  Roger  Williams  think 
himself  a  Christian,  and  look  upon  it  to  be  persecution,  for  Christ's  magis- 
trates, by  Christ's  light  and  power,  to  subject  all  under  the  power  of 
Christ,  and  to  bring  all  into  this  light  of  Christ?  Or  can  he  think  such  an 
one  an  unfaithful  magistrate  ?  Or  are  those  laws,  and  the  execution  of 
them,  persecution,  that  are  agreeable  and  answerable  to  that  of  God  in 
every  man  ?  These  are  George  Fox's  words.  Such  magistrates,  such 
laws,  such  power,  and  light,  and  subjection,  is  G.  F.  for,  and  no  other.1 

This  opens  the  plain  cause  why  they  militated  so  hard 
against  other  magistrates  and  government,  as  in  the  lament- 
able instances  following. 

Our  Lord  directed  his  disciples  to  depart  from  any  house 
or  city,  that  they  should  travel  into,  when  they  refused  to 
receive  them  ;  and  when  the  Gadarenes  besought  him  to  de- 
part out  of  their  coasts,  he  did  so;  and  we  have  no  account 
of  his  forcing  himself  upon  them  again.  The  Quakers  took 
another  course.  Three  of  them  who  were  banished,  on 
pain  of  death,  returned  again  to  Boston,  and  were  con- 
demned to  die  ;  and  William  Robinson  gave  in  a  paper  to 
the  Court,  which  contains  the  following  reason  for  his  con- 
duct therein,  viz. : — 

On  the  eighth  day  of  the  eighth  month,  1659,  in  the  after  part  of  the 
day,  in  traveling  betwixt  Newport  in  Rhode  Island,  and  Daniel  Gould's 
house,  with  my  dear  brother  Christopher  Holder,  the  word  of  the  Lord 
came  expressly  to  me.  which  did  fill  me  immediately  with  life  and  power, 
and  heavenly  love  by  which  he  constrained  me,  and  commanded  me  to  pass 
to  the  town  of  Boston,  my  life  to  lay  down  in  his  will,  for  the  accomplish- 
ing of  his  service,  that  he  had  there  to  perform  at  the  day  appointed.  To 
which  heavenly  voice  I  preseutly  yielded  obedience,  not  questioning  the 

Lord  how  he  would  bring  the  thing  to  pass For   the  Lord   had   said 

unto  me,  My  soul  shall  rest  in  everlasting  peace,  and  my  life  shall   enter 
into  rest,  for  being  obedient  to  the  God  of  my  life. 

Marmaduke  Stevenson,  gave  in  another  paper,  informing 
the  Court,  how  he  heard  a  voice  as  he  was  plowing  in  York- 

^illiams,  p.  207.     Fox's  Answer,  pp.  229,  230. 


[1659.]  VIEWS  OF  THE  QUAKERS  ON  INWARD  LIGHT.  259 

shire,  saying,  I  have  ordained  thee  a  prophet  unto  the  nations  ; 
and  after  he  came  to  Rhode  Island,  he  says  : — 

The  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto   me   saying,  Go  to   Boston,  with   thy 

brother  William  Robinson This  is  given    forth  to    be    upon    record, 

that  all  people  may  know,  who  hear  it,  that  we  came  not  in  our  own  will, 
but  in  the  will  of  God.1 

This  was  their  way  of  following  what  they  called  the 
light,  and  the  clearest  account  of  what  they  meant  thereby, 
that  I  have  seen,  is  contained  in  the  following  sentences 
directed  to  Mr.  Williams,  viz. : — 

Thou  wrongest  the  Quakers  in  saying,  they  confess  their  light  to  be  con- 
science. In  this  thou  pervertest  their  words,  and  thou  wouldest  have  it  so  ; 
for  George  Fox's  words  are,  The  light  which  you  call  conscience,  which  is 

the  light  of  Christ,  as  you  may  see  all  along  in  his  book Thou  hast 

read  our  books  with  an  evil  eye,  or  else  thou  mightest  see  how  often  we 
mention,  that  Christ  hath  bought  us  with  a  price,  which  is  his  blood  ;  and 
how  that  all  died  in  Adam,  and  how  that  Christ  died  for  all,  that  they  that 
live,  might  live  to  him  ;  and  that  all  might  believe  in  him,  who  died  for 
them  ;  and  if  they  do  not,  they  are  condemned  with  the  light,  which  they 

should  believe   in Christ  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 

world,2  with  life  in  him,  the  word  and  faith.  He  is  the  light  of  the  world, 
and  saith,  Believe  in  the  light,  that  ye  may  become  children  of  light,  and 
he  that  believeth  is  saved,  and  he  that  doth  not  is  condemned.  And  the 
condemnation  is  the  light  that  is  come  into  the  world  ;  which  light  is  saving 
to  them  that  believe  in  it,  and  condemning  to  them  that  do  not  believe  in  it, 
but  hate  it,  whose  deeds  be  evil.      John  3.3 

In  all  this  there  is  a  manifest  confounding  of  grace  and 
works,  law  and  gospel,  which  the  inspired  writers  took  great 
pains  to  keep  distinct.  And  since  Christ  himself  says,  "  God 
sent,  not  his  Son  into  the  world  to  condemn  the  world ;  but 
that  the  world  through  him  might  be  saved,"  "  Think  not 
that  I  will  accuse  you  to  the  Father  ;  there  is  one  that  ac- 
cuseth  you,  even  Moses,  in  whom  ye  trust;"  John  3.  17, 
and  5.  45  ;  was  not  the  zeal  of  these  men  like  that  we  read 
of  Rom.  10.  2 — 4  1     Did  they  not  trust  in  the  law  instead 

'Bishop,  [Grove's  Abridgment,]  pp.  127 — 133. 

2Williams  says,  he  believes  Fox,  in  his  book  in  folio,  repeats  these  words,  near  or 
quite  a  thousand  times.     P.  186. 
3Fox  against  Williams,  Second  Part,  pp.  4,  6,  10. 


260  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

of  the  gospel  ?     As  to  the  person  of  the  Saviour,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams says : — 

Fox  in  all  his  book  cannot  endure  to  hear  of  the  word  Human,  as  being 
a  new  name,  and  never  heard  of  in  Scripture.  I  said  in  public,  many 
words  truly  and  properly  English,  are  commeudably  used  that  are  uot  in 
Scripture,  in  English.  The  word  human  comes  from  the  Latin  humanus, 
signifying  pertaining,  or  belonging  to  man.  So  a  human  soul  or  body  is 
such  as  all  mankind  have.  Hence  1  told  them  that  the  word  anthropinos 
peirasmos,  I.  Cor.  10,  might  have  been  turned  human,  but  is  truly  turned, 
no  temptation  but  such  as  is  common  to  man.  G.  Fox  knows,  that  if 
Christ  Jesus  be  granted  to  have  had  such  a  soul  and  body  as  is  human,  or 
common  to  man,  down  falls  their  monstrous  idol  of  a  Christ,  called  light 
within. 

To  this  Fox  answers  : — 

For  thee  and  the  priests  to  give  such  names  to  Christ,  our  Lord  and 
Saviour,  which  the  Scriptures  do  not  give,  and  yet  say  the  Scriptures  are 
the  rule,  that  is  abominable.  And  there  is  no  such  word  in  I.  Cor.  10, 
that  calleth  Christ's  body  and  soul  human;  and  whether  is  Christ's  body 
celestial  or  terrestial,  or  which  glory  doth  he  bear?  I.  Cor.  15,  14.  G. 
F.  doth  grant,  and  all  the  Quakers,  that  Christ  was  made  like  unto  us,  sin 
excepted,  and  had  a  body  and  soul,  or  else  how  could  he  suffer  ?  and  is 
risen,  the  same  that  descended  is  ascended,  as  the  apostle  saith.1 

And  I  have  seen  other  of  their  writings  which  hold  ex- 
pressly, that  Christ  brought  the  same  body  from  heaven, 
that  he  carried  thither  again.  But  they  reckoned  it  "  abom- 
inable" for  Mr.  Williams  to  use  a  word  concerning  our 
Saviour's  humanity,  that  is  not  in  our  translation,  while  he 
at  the  same  time  approved  of  the  reading  as  it  is  ;  yet  when 
Hebrews  i.  3,  was  brought  in  those  times  to  prove  the  per- 
sonality of  the  Trinity,  the  Quakers  said,  "  That  is  falsely 
translated,  for  in  the  Greek  it  is  not  person  but  substance."2 
And  said  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard,  "  They  turn  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures into  allegories,  all  unless  some  which  they  wrest  to 
their  own  destruction,  as  the  apostle  Peter  saith?" 

They  expressly  held  to  a  power  of  direction  within  them, 
superior  to  the  Scriptures,  which  carried  them  into  actions 
that  light  from  thence,  or  from  reason  could  not  justify ; 

'Williams,  p.  51 ;  Fox,  p.  43.  2Bishop,  [Grove's  Abridgment,]  p.  360. 


[1659.]  EXTRAVAGANCES  OF  THE  QUAKERS.  261 

and  their  only  way  was  to  appeal  to  an  inward  motion  or 
voice.  As  for  instance,  George  Bishop  speaks  of  Deborah 
Wilson,  as  a  "  modest  woman,  of  retired  life,  and  sober  con- 
versation ;  and  that  bearing  a  great  burthen  for  the  hardness 
and  cruelty  of  the  people,  she  went  through  the  town  of 
Salem  naked,  as  a  sign,  which  she  having  in  part  performed, 
was  laid  hold  of,  and  bound  over  to  appear  at  the  next  Court 
of  Salem,  where  the  wicked  rulers  sentenced  her  to  be 
whipped."1  Lydia  Wardwel,  a  married  woman  of  Hampton, 
went  in  the  same  manner  into  the  meeting-house  in  New- 
bury, in  time  of  public  worship  ;  for  which  she  met  with 
the  like  treatment.2  Mr.  Williams  referred  the  Quakers  to 
these  instances  which  their  own  author  had  published ;  and 
told  them  they  never  could  persuade  souls  not  bewitched, 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  would  move  them  to  do  so ;  to  which 
they  answer  thus  : — 

We  do  believe  thee,  in  that  dark,  persecuting,  bloody  spirit,  that  thou 
and  the  New  England  priests  are  bewitched  in,  you  cannot  believe  that  you 
are  naked  from  God  and  his  clothing,  and  blind  ;  and  therefore  hath  the 
Lord  in  his  power  moved  some  of  his  sons  and  daughters  to  go  naked  ;  yea, 
and  they  did  tell  them  in  Oliver's  days,  and  the  long  parliaments,  that  God 
would  strip  them  of  their  church  profession,  and  of  their  power,  as  naked 
as  they  were.  And  so  they  were  true  prophets  and  prophetesses  to  the  na- 
tion, as  many  sober  men  have  confessed  since  ;  though  thou  and  the  old 
persecuting  priests  in  New  England  remain  in  your  blindness  and  naked- 
ness  As  thou  didst  in  the  dispute,  so  now,  thou  makest  a  great  ado 

with  our  men  and  women  going  naked.     We  told  them  then,  we  owned  no 

such  practice  in  any,  uuless  they  were  called  unto  it  by  the  Lord He 

beginneth  again  to  upbraid  us  with  our  men's  and  women's  going  naked, 
as  if  it  were  a  thing  commonly  allowed  among  us  in  their  wills,  without 
the  motion  of  God.3 

As  an  impartial  historian  I  thought  it  duty  thus  to  state 
these  plain  facts  and  sentiments  on  both  sides  ;  for  upon  Dr. 
Mather's  saying,  that  some  good  men  formerly  took  that 
wrong  way  of  reclaiming  heretics  by  persecution,  the  Quakers 
spent  seventeen  pages  in  the  most  striking  recital  of  what 
they  suffered  in  those  times  that  their  art  would  admit  of,  in 

bishop,  [Grove's  Abridgment]  p.  383.— Ed.  2Ibid,  p.  367.— Ed.  3Eox,  pp.  9,  28,  32. 


262  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

order  to  prove,  that  no  good  man  could  be  an  actor  therein. 
To  fix  this  prejudice  more  lastingly  in  the  minds  of  all,  they 
turned  it  into  verse,  saying : — 

These  that  in  conscience  cannot  wrong  a  worm, 

Are  fin'd  and  whip'd,  because  they  can't  conform  ; 

And  time  hath  been,  which  ne'er  shall  be  forgot, 

God's  servants  have  been  hanged,  none  knows  for  what, 

Except  for  serving  of  their  blessed  Lord, 

For  quaking  and  for  trembling  at  his  word. 

Let  these  black  days,  like  the  fifth  of  November, 

Be  writ  in  red,  for  ages  to  remember.1 

And  they  are  remembered  in  such  a  manner  to  this  day, 
that  a  person  can  hardly  plead  for  equal  liberty  of  con- 
science in  Massachusetts  without  having  the  disorders  of 
Rhode  Island  colony  brought  up  against  it ;  nor  for  the  good 
doctrine,  and  family  orders  of  those  fathers,  among  some  in 
the  latter  colony,  without  having  hot  irons  and  halters 
thrown  in  his  teeth  ?  Not  only  so,  but  we  have  lately  seen 
artful  men  trying  to  prevent  our  union  in  the  cause  of  our 
civil  liberties  by  these  means.  But  from  the  above  facts  the 
reader  may  judge,  whether  an  invasion  of  each  other's  rights, 
under  the  name  of  religion,  was  not  the  real  cause  of  those 
dreadful  broils  ;  which  a  true  acknowledgment  thereof,  both 
as  to  property  and  conscience,  would  have  prevented  ; 
whether  the  grand  error  on  both  sides,  was  not  the  assum- 
ing a  power  to  govern  religion,  instead  of  being  governed 
by  it. 

On  October  20th,  Robinson,  Stevenson  and  Mary  Dyre, 
received  the  sentence  of  death.2     It  was  executed  upon  the 

'Ma^nalia.  Hook  7,  p.  22.    [Vol.  II,  pp.  453,  451.]  Whiting's  Answer,  pp.  11—20. 
In  justice  to  the  rulers  on  whom  rests  the  responsibility  of  this  persecution,  its 

whole  history  should  he  related. 

September  1 1,  1669,  William  Robinson,  Marmaduke  Stevenson,  Nicholas  Davis, 
and  Mary  Dyer,  were  banished  on  pain  of  death.  "Nicholas  Davis  and  Mary  Dyer," 
says  Bishop,  addressing  the  rulers  of  Massachusetts  colony,  "found  freedom  to  de- 
part your  jurisdiction,  the  one  to  Plymouth  patent,  the  other  to  Rhode  Island;  hut 
the  Other  two,  were  constrained  in  the  love  and  {tower  of  the  Lord,  not  to  depart 
but  to  stay  in  your  jurisdiction  ami  t<i  try  your  Moody  law  unto  death."  Remaining 
in  Massachusetts,  they  were    apprehended,  whipped   and    again  set  free  on  pain  of 


[1660.]  HANGING  OF  QUAKERS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  263 

two  men,  the  27th.  The  woman  was  brought  with  them  to 
the  gallows,  but  at  the  intercession  of  her  son  of  Newport 
and  others,  she  was  then  reprieved,  and  sent  away.1  Return- 
ing again  the  next  spring,  she  was  hanged,  June  1st,  1660.2 
Twelve  days  after,  the  Court  of  Plymouth  repealed  one  or 
more  of  the  sharpest  laws  they  had  made  against  that  peo- 
ple.3    Charles  the  Second  had  been  restored  to  the   crown 

death.  October  8,  Mary  Dyer  came  to  Boston  to  visit  a  Quaker  imprisoned  there. 
October  15,  "  W.  Robinson  and  M.  Stevenson,"  says  Bishop,  "  came  to  Boston,  and 
with  them  Alice  Cowland,  who  came  to  bring  linen  to  wrap  the  dead  bodies  of  them, 
who  were  to  suffer."  Several  other  Quakers  also  attended  them.  "  These  all  came 
together,"  continues  Bishop,  "in  the  moving  and  power  of  the  Lord,  as  one,  to  look 
your  bloody  laws  in  the  face,  and  to  accompany  those  who  were  to  suffer  by  them. 
Upon  the  trial  of  Robinson,  Stevenson  and  Mrs.  Dyer,  the  Governor  said  "  that  he 
desired  not  their  death  ;"  and  again,  "  We  have  made  many  laws,  and  endeavored  by 
several  ways  to  keep  ye  from  us,  and  neither  whipping  nor  imprisonment  nor  cut- 
ting off  ears,  nor  banishment  upon  pain  of  death  will  keep  ye  from  us."  This  con- 
duct of  the  Quakers  in  provoking  their  own  punishment  is  certainly  no  excuse  for 
the  cruelty  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  but  it  is  utterly  inconsistent 
with  the  example  of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and,  as  has  been  observed,  p.  258,  with 
Christ's  direction.  Ear  different  was  the  conduct  of  Clarke,  Crandall  and  Holmes 
in  coming  into  Massachusetts,  not  to  rush  into  danger,  hreaking  no  law,  and,  though 
bold  in  the  face  of  suffering,  at  the  first  honorable  opportunity  retiring  to  a  place  of 
safety.  See  p.  193.  Bishop's  New  England  judged,  Grove's  Abridgment,  pp.  114, 
125.      Massachusetts  Records.— Ed. 

^his  language  might  be  misunderstood  as  stating  that  she  was  brought  to  the  gal- 
lows to  be  executed,  and  there  was  reprieved.  The  record  of  the  Court  is  as  fol- 
lows : — Whereas  Mary  Dyer  is  condemned  hy  the  General  Court  to  be  executed  for 
her  offences,  on  the  petition  of  William  Dyer,  her  son,  it  is  ordered  that  the  said 
Mary  Dyer  shall  have  liberty  for  forty-eight  hours  after  this  day  to  depart  out  of 
this  jurisdiction  ;  after  which  time,  being  found  therein  she  is  forthwith  to  be  exe- 
cuted ;  and  in  the  meantime  that  she  be  kept  close  prisoner  till  her  son  or  some 
other  be  ready  to  carry  her  away  within  the  aforesaid  time.  And  it  is  further  ordered 
that  she  shall  be  carried  to  the  place  of  execution  and  there  to  stand  upon  the  gal- 
lows with  a  rope  about  her  neck  till  the  rest  be  executed. — Ed. 

2Mary  Dyer,  like  Robinson  and  Stevenson,  came  back  deliberately,  to  challenge 
her  own  death.  "  Being  asked  what  she  had  to  say  why  sentence  should  not  be 
executed,  she  gave  no  other  answer  but  that  she  denied  our  law,  came  to  bear  wit- 
ness against  it,  and  could  not  choose  but  come  and  do  as  formerly."  Bishop's  New 
England  judged,  Grove's  Abridgment,  pp.  156,  157, — Ed. 

3In  1657  it  was  enacted  "  that  no  Quaker  or  person  commonly  so  called,  shall  be 
entertained  by  any  person  or  persons  within  this  government,  under  penalty  of  five 
pounds  for  every  such  default,  or  be  whipped;"  also,  "that  if  any  Ranter  or  Quaker, 
or  person  commonly  so  called,  shall  come  into  any  town  within  this  government, 
and  by  any  person  or  persons  be  known,  or  be  suspected  to  be  such, the  person  know- 
ing or  suspecting  him  shall  forthwith  acquaint  the  constable  or  his  deputy  of  them, 
on  pain  oi  presentment;"  and  also  that  no  meeting  of  Quakers  or  Ranters  "shall  be 
assembled  or  kept  by  any  person   in   any  place   within  this   government,  under  the 


264  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

of  England,  on  May  29th,  of  which  Plymouth  conldhave  had 
no  knowledge  then.  After  the  news  of  it  arrived,  Governor 
Endicott  and  his  Court  wrote  to  him,  December  10th,  when 
they  said : — 

Our  liberty  to  walk  in  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  with  all  good  conscience, 
was  the  cause  of  our  transporting  ourselves,  with  our  wives,  little  ones, 
and  our  substance,  from  that  pleasant  laud  over  the  Atlantic  ocean,  into 
this  [the]  vast  wilderness,  choosing  rather  the  pure  Scripture  worship  with 
a  good  conscience,  iu  this  remote  wilderness,  among  the  heathen,  than  the 
pleasures  of  England  with  submission  to  the  [impositions  of  the]  then  so 
disposed  and  so  far  prevailing  hierarchy,  which  we  could  not  do  without  an 
evil  conscience Concerning  the  Quakers,  open  and  capital  blasphem- 
ers, open  seducers  from  the  glorious  Trinity,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
the  blessed  gospel,  and  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  rule  of  life,  open 
enemies  to  the  government  itself  as  established  in  the  hands  of  any  but 
men  of  their  own  principles,  [we  were  at  last  constrained,  for  our  own 
safety,  to  pass  a  sentence  of  banishment  against  them  upon  pain  of  death.] 
....  The  magistrate  at  last,  in  conscience,  both  to  God  and  man,  judged 
himself  called  for  the  defence  of  all,  to  keep  the  passage  with  the  poiut  of 
the  sword  held  towards  them  ;  this  could  do  no  harm  to  him  that  would  be 
warned   thereby  ;  their  wittingly   rushing  themselves  thereupon    was  their 

penalty  of  forty  shillings  a  time  for  every  speaker  and  ten  shillings  a  time  for  every 
hearer  that  are  heads  of  families,  and  forty  shillings  a  time  for  the  owner  of  the 
place  that  permits  them  so  to  meet  together."  The  same  year  it  was  enacted,  '-that 
in  case  any  shall  bring  in  any  Quaker  or  other  notorious  heretic,  by  land  or  water, 
into  any  part  of  the  government,  [he]  shall  forthwith,  from  order  from  any  one 
magistrate,  return  them  to  the  place  from  whence  they  came,  or  clear  the  govern- 
ment of  them,  on  the  penalty  of  paying  a  fine  of  twenty  shillings  for  every  week 
that  they  shall  stay  in  the  government  after  warning." 

These  enactments  were  repealed,  June  13,1660;  but,  alas,  they  were  repealed 
only  to  be  reenaeted  on  the  spot,  with  slight  modifications,  or  to  give  place  to  new 
laws  quite  as  oppressive.   The  first  law  above  mentioned,  was  passed  again  with  the 

change  of  scarce  a  word.  The  second  law.  requiring  any  who  might  know  or  sus- 
pect the  presence  of  a  Quaker  to  give  immediate  notice  thereof,  was  reenaeted  with 
a  very  little  modification.  The  law  prohibiting  the  holding  of  meetings  by  Quakers 
or  Ranters  was  changed  by  the  addition  of  a  clause  that  all  persons  "under  the  gov- 
ernmenl  of  others,  as  wives,  children  or  servants,"  who  might  be  present  at  such 
meetings,  should  be  carried  by  the  constable  of  the  town  "either  into  the  stocks  or 
ca^e."  to  continue  there  two  hours,  if  in  winter,  or  four,  if  in  summer;  and  towns 
wen-  required  to  provide  cages  for  their  confinement 

All  these  reensctments  wen'  made  near  the  commencement  of  the  session  of  the 
General  Court  which  sat  "al  New  Plymouth,  dune  10,  I860,"  probably  the  very  day 

of  the  repeals.  It  was  also  enacted  at  this  time  that  if  any  should  furnish  horses  to 
Quaker-,  for  travel  in  the  colony  or  escape  from  it,  such  horses  should  be  forfeited 
to  the  government.     Laws  of  Plymouth  Colony. — Ed. 


[1661.]  QUESTIONS  UPON  INFANT  BAPTISM.  265 

own  act,  we  with  [all]  humility  conceive,  a  crime  bringing  their  blood  upon 
their  own  head.1 

In  like  manner  they  proceeded  and  hanged  William  Led- 
dra,  March  14th,  1661  ;  but  their  friends  in  England  pro- 
cured an  express  from  White-Hall,  of  Sept.  9th,  which  was 
brought  over  by  Samuel  Shattock,  of  Salem,  requiring  these 
rulers  to  forbear  such  things  for  the  future,  and  to  send  such 
Quakers  as  appeared  to  them  so  obnoxious,  to  be  tried  in 
England.  Soon  after  the  receipt  of  this,  Mr.  Norton  and 
Mr.  Bradstreet,  were  sent  over  as  agents,  by  whom  Govern- 
or Endicott  and  his  Court  wTrote  to  the  Earl  of  Manchester, 
"  to  beseech  his  Majesty  to  tender  them  in  respect  of  those 
pestilent  heretics  the  Quakers,  who  have  lately  obtained 
his  Majesty's  letter,  requiring  us  to  forbear  their  punish- 
ments ;  in  observance  whereof  we  have  suspended  execution 
of  our  laws  against  them  respecting  death  or  corporal  pun- 
ishments ;  but  this  indulgence  they  [do]  abuse  to  insolency 
and  seduction  of  our  people,  and  unless  his  majesty  strength- 
en our  hands  in  the  application  of  some  suitable  remedy 
to  suppress  these  and  others,  ill  affected  to  our  tranquility, 
this  hopeful  plantation  is  likely  in  all  probability  to  be  de- 
stroyed." They  had  before  said,  that  allowing  such  to  have 
liberty  here,  would  be  "so  contrary  to  our  consciences  to  per- 
mit, and  no  less  oppression  of  us  than  the  destroying  both  us 
and  ours  by  the  sword."2  How  justly  then  did  Mr.  Williams 
call  the  use  of  force  in  such  affairs,  "  The  bloody  tenet  /"3 

We  will  now  return  to  the  affairs  of  baptism.  Mr.  Hub- 
bard upon  the  year  1656,  says  : — 

Baptism  unto  this  time  had  been  administered  unto  those  children  only, 
whose  immediate  parents  were  admitted  into  full  communion  in  the 
churches  where  they  lived  ;  but  now  the  country  came  to  be  increased,  and 
sundry  families  were  found,  that  had  children  born  in  them,  whose  imme- 
diate parents  had  never  attempted  to  join  to  any  of  the  churches  to  which 
they  belonged,  and  yet  were  very  much  unsatisfied  that  they  could  not  ob- 

^ubbard,  [559.]     Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  326,  327. 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  331—360. 

3Upon  what  has  been  said  in  reference  to  Quakers,  see  Appendix  A,  at  the  close 
of  this  volume.— Ed. 


266  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tain  baptism  for  their  children  ;  the  cause  occasioned  many  debates  be- 
tween the  ministers  of  the  country.1 

Connecticut  took  the  lead  therein,  and  sent  a  draught  of 
questions  about  it  to  the  rulers  of  the  Massachusetts,  re- 
questing that  the  ablest  ministers  of  both  colonies  might  be 
called  together,  to  answer  the  same.  Such  an  assembly  was 
therefore  called  by  authority  at  Boston,  June  4th,  1657,  and 
sat  till  the  19th.  Their  answers  to  twenty-one  questions 
were  afterwards  printed  in  London,  under  the  title  of  "A  dis- 
putation concerning  church  members,  and  their  children." 
Therein  they  concluded,  that  the  children  of  professing  pa- 
rents, "  are  by  means  of  their  parents'  covenanting,  in  cov- 
enant also,  and  members  of  the  church,  by  divine  institution." 

1.  Because  they  are  in  that  covenant  for  substance  which  was  made 
with  Abraham.  Gen.  17,  7,  compared  with  Dent.  29,  12,  &c.  2.  Because 
such  children  are,  by  Christ,  affirmed  to  have  a  place  and  portion  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  3.  Else  no  children  could  be  baptized,  baptism  being 
a  church  ordinance,  and  a  seal  of  the  covenant  of  grace. 

And  also  they  concluded  : — 

It  is  the  duty  of  infants,  who  confederate  in  their  parents,  when  grown 
up  to  years  of  discretion,  though  not  yet  fit  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  own 
the  covenant  they  made  with  their  pareuts,  by  entering  thereinto  in  their 
own  persons  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  call  upon  them  for  the 
performance  thereof;  and  if,  being  called  upon,  they  shall  refuse  the  per- 
formance of  this  great  duty,  or  otherwise  continue  scandalous,  they  are 
liable  to  be  censured  for  the  same  by  the  church.  And  in  case  they  under- 
stand the  grounds  of  religion,  are  not  scandalous,  and  solemnly  own  the 
covenant  in  their  own  persons,  wherein  they  give  up  both  themselves  and 
their  children  unto  the  Lord,  and  desire  baptism  for  them,  we  (with  due 
reverence  to  any  godly  learned  that  may  dissent)  see  not  sufficient  cause  to 
deny  baptism  unto  their  children. 

As  this  disputation  had  its  first  rise  in  Connecticut,  so  was  there  much 
difference  and  contention  raised  at  Hartford,.  . .  .bet ween  Mr.  Samuel  Stone, 
theirteacher,  and  the  rest  of  the  church,  occasioned  at  the  first  on  some  such 
account  :  insomuch  that  sundry  members  of  that  church,  having  rent  them- 
selves off,  removed  to  another  place  higher  up  the  river,  where  they  settled, 
and  gathered  a  distinct  church  in  that  way  of  schism  as  the  rest  of  the 
churches  accounted. - 

This  unhappy  difference  overspread  the  whole  colony  of 
Connecticut,  with  such  a  monstrous  enchantment  upon  the 

'Hubbard,  p.  5G2.— Ed.  2Hubbard,  [pp.  4G4— 570.] 


[1662.]  THE  HALF-WAY  COVENANT.  267 

minds  of  Christian  brethren  that  in  all  the  towns  round 
about,  the  people  generally  made  themselves  parties  to  one 
side  or  the  other  of  the  quarrel.  A  world  of  sin  was  doubt- 
less committed,  even  by  pious  men  on  this  occasion.  It  came 
at  last  to  an  open  breach,  which  could  not  be  healed,  or 
made  up  among  themselves,  which  put  them  upon  a  necessity 
of  calling  a  convention  of  the  messengers  of  sundry  churches 
in  Massachusetts,  who  met  at  Boston,  in  1659,  and  made  a 
reconciliation  between  them.  The  practice  of  church-care, 
about  the  children  of  our  churches,  met  with  such  opposi- 
tion as  could  not  be  encountered  with  any  thing  less  than  a 
synod  of  elders  and  messengers  from  all  the  churches  of 
the  Massachusetts  colony.  Accordingly  the  General  Court, 
having  the  necessity  of  the  matter  laid  before  them  at  their 
second  session  in  the  year  1661,  issued  out  their  desire 
and  order  for  the  convening  of  such  a  synod  at  Boston  in 
the  spring.  After  long  labor  the  majority  of  them  approved 
of  the  above  proposition,  and  obtained  the  concurrence  ot 
the  General  Court  thereto,  on  October  8th,  1662.1  Mr. 
Mitchel  who  was  the  chief  draughtsman,  of  that  result,  said, 
"  We  make  account  that  if  we  keep  baptism  within  the  non- 
excommunicable,  and  the  Lord's  Supper  within  the  compass 
of  those  that  have  (unto  charity)  somewhat  of  the  power 
of  godliness,  or  grace  in  exercise,  we  shall  be  near  about  the 
right  middle-ivay  of  church  reformation."2  And  it  has  been 
called  the  "  Half-way  Covenant"  ever  since  ;  though  this 
halving  of  matters  in  religion  has  done  more  mischief  in  this 
land  as  well  as  elsewhere,  than  tongue  can  express. 

Mr.  Eleazer  Mather,  the  first  minister  of  Northampton, 
wrote  on  July  4,  this  year,  to  Mr.  Devenport,  and  said  con- 
cerning this  synod,  Si  There  was  scarce  any  of  the  congrega- 
tional principles,  but  what  were  layen  at  by  some  or  other 
of  the  assembly  ;  as  relations  of  the  work  of  grace,  power 
of  voting  of  the  fraternity  in  admission,"  &c.3     President 

Hubbard,  570.    Magnalia,  B,  3.  pp.  117, 118,  [Vol.  I,  p.  194,]  and  B.  5,  pp.  63,  64. 
[Vol.  II,  p.  239.] 
2His  life,  pp.  76,  80.  [Magnalia  Book  4,  Vol.  II,  p.  83.] 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  224,  [206.] 


268  HISTORY   OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Chauncey  published  his  testimony  against  this  new  scheme  ; 
and  so  did  Mr.  Devenport ;  to  the  last  of  which  Mr.  Increase 
Mather  wrote  a  preface,  containing  a  distinct  apology  for 
those  who  dissented  from  it.  Mr.  John  Allen,  of  Dedham, 
answered  Mr.  Chauncey,  and  Mr.  Richard  Mather  the  other, 
while  Mr.  Mitchel  was  employed  to  answer  his  son's  preface. 
Young  Mr.  Mather  in  that  preface  says,  "  The  synod 
acknowledged,  that  there  ought  be  to  true  saving  faith  in 
the  parent,  or  else  the  child  ought  not  to  be  baptized.  We 
intreated  and  urged  again  and  again,  that  this,  which  them- 
selves acknowledged  was  a  principle  of  truth,  might  be  set 
down  for  a  conclusion,  and  then  we  should  all  agree.  But 
those  reverend  persons  would  not  consent  to  this."  No  ; 
and  Mr.  Mitchel  was  so  far  from  doing  it  in  his  answer,  that 
he  tells  of  distinguishing  between  faith  in  its  hopeful  begin- 
ning, and  faith  in  special  exercise  ;  initial  faith  and  exer- 
cised faith,  and  says,  "  All  reformed  churches,  unanimously 
grant  the  child's  right  unto  baptism,  by  its  being  born  within 
the  visible  church.  Besides,  what  have  infants  more  than 
mere  membership  to  give  them  right  unto  baptism  !  "We 
know  of  no  stronger  argument  for  infant  baptism  than  this, 
that  church  members  are  to  be  baptized."1  To  which  I  would 
say,  that  the  Jewish  church  indeed  was  first  constituted  of 
the  household  of  Abraham,  and  all  his  offspring  were  born 
in  the  church,  of  whom  the  son  of  the  bond  woman  was 
the  first  that  was  circumcised  ;  but  the  Christian  church  is 
constituted  of  the  household  of  God,  the  children  of  the 
free  woman,  in  distinction  from  those  who  were  born  after 
the  flesh,  though  from  Abraham's  body.  Ephesians  2. 
Gal.  1. 

Mr.  Mitchell,  by  his  reasonings  drew  Mr.  Increase  Mather 
over  to  that  side ;  after  which  he  acted  many  cruel  things 
against  the  Baptists  for  near  twenty  years,  till  the  same 
measures  were  meeted  to  him  again,  so  as  very  sensibly  to 
convince  him  of   his    error    therein.     Mr.    Hubbard    says, 

*Magnalia,  Book  5,  page  77—79.     [Vol.  II,  p.  202.] 


[1662.]     LETTEE  FKOM  MASSACHUSETTS  TO  RHODE  ISLAND.       269 

"  Some  think  Mr.  Devenport's  book  hath  overthrown  the 
propositions  of  the  synod,  according  to  their  own  princi- 
ples."1 Mr.  Devenport  was  a  while  in  Holland,  before  he 
came  here,  where  he  testified  against  their  promiscuous  bap- 
tism ;  and  he  said  : — 

When  a  reformation  of  the  church  has  been  brought  about  in  any  part 
of  the  world,  it  has  rarely  been  afterwards  carried  on  any  one  step  further 
than  the  first  reformers  did  succeed  in  their  first  endeavors.  He  observed, 
that  as  easily  might  the  ark  have  been  removed  from  the  mountains  of 
Ararat,  where  it  first  grounded,  as  a  people  get  any  ground  in  reformation, 
after  and  beyond  the  first  remove  of  the  reformers.  And  this  observation 
quickened  him  to  embark  in  a  design  of  reformation,  wherein  he  might 
have  opportunity  to  drive  things  in  the  first  essay,  as  near  to  the  precept 
and  pattern  of  Scripture  as  they  could  be  driven.2 

We  shall  presently  see  other  ministers  promoting  a  sepa- 
ration from  him  for  these  attempts. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  this  year,  the  Assembly  at  Boston 
wrote  to  that  of  Rhode  Island,  and  said : — 

Our  affection  to  peace  and  a  fair  correspondence,  [with  you]  puts  us 
upon  a  condescension  far  beneath  our  own  reason,  and  the  justice  of  our 
cause,  once  more  to  transmit  [emit]  this  our  last  letter  to  you,  concerning 
the  unjust  molestation  and  intrusion  of  some  of  your  inhabitants,  upon  the 
undoubted  rights  of  this  jurisdiction,  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  in  their 
grants  and  possessions  in  the  Pequot  and  Narragansett  country,  upon  pre- 
tence of  authority  from  your  Court,  and  purchase  from  [the]  Indians,  but 
producing  no  deed,  record,  order  or  commission  for  warranting  the  same  ; 
wherein,  as  we  conceive,  they  act  directly  against  reason,  righteousness, 
precedent,  grants  from  England,  clear  conquest,  purchase  and  possession. 
It  is  not  unknown  to  yourselves  what  means  have  been  used  from  time  to 
time,  both  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies,  and  by  the  Gov- 
ernor and  magistrates,  General  Court  and  Council  of  this  jurisdiction,  by 
their  several  letters,  to  desire  you  to  cause  your  people  to  desist  [from] 
such  proceedings,  and  extend  [exert]  your  authority  for  suppressing  injus. 
tice  ;  but  to  this  day  [we]  have  received  no  satisfactory  or  particular  answer 
in  the  premises  ;  which  has  given  [gives]  us  grounds  to  suppose,  [suspect] 
that  at  least  you  indulge  them  in  their  proceedings.  You  may  hereby  have 
[take]  notice,  that  two  of  your  people,  namely,  Tobias  Sanders,  and  Robert 
Bardick,  [Burditt]  being  long  since  taken  on  the  place,  and  secured  by  us 

Hubbard,  p.  590.— Ed.  2Magnalia,  Book  3,  p.  53.  [Vol.  I,  p.  295.] 


270  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  answer  their  trespass,  we  have  now  called  them  before  the  Court,  and 
find  nothing  from  them  to  justify  their  proceedings  ;  therefore  the  Court 
hath  fined  them  forty  pounds  for  their  [your]1  offence,  and  towards  satis- 
faction for  the  charges  expended  in  carrying  them  before  authority  ;  and 
that  they  stand  committed  [to  prison]  till  the  [your]  fine  be  satisfied,  and 
security  given  to  the  Secretary  to  the  value  of  one  hundred  pounds  for  their 
[your]  peaceable  demeanor  toward  all  the  inhabitants  of  this  jurisdiction 
for  the  future And  we  hereby  signify  unto  you,  that  unless  you  com- 
mand off  your  inhabitants  that  yet  continue  their  possession  at  Sotherton 
and  Pateskomscut,  before  the  last  of  June  next,  you  may  expect  we  shall 
not  continue  to  neglect  the  relief  and  protection  of  our  people  there  [thus] 
molested  ;  and  shall  account  it  our  duty  to  secure  all  such  persons  and  es- 
tates of  yours  as  shall  be  found  within  our  jurisdiction,  until  [all]  just  dam- 
ages be  satisfied.  But  this  we  heartily  and  earnestly  desire  may  be  avoided, 
by  your  prudent  care  and  justice,  and  that  peace  and  good  agreement  [gov- 
ernment] may  for  the  future  be  preserved  between  us.2 

This  reminds  me  of  Mr.  Locke's  saying,  "  That  dominion 
is  founded  in  grace,  is  an  assertion  by  which  those  who  main- 
tain it  do  plainly  lay  claim  to  the  possession  of  all  things  ; 
for  they  are  not  so  wanting  to  themselves  as  not  to  believe, 
or  at  least  as  not  to  profess  themselves  to  be  the  truly  pious 
and  faithful."3  Because  Mr.  Williams  testified  against  that 
power  when  he  first  came  to  Boston,  the  Court  wrote  to  Sa- 
lem against  him ;  whereupon  he  did  not  stay  to  contend 
with  them,  but  peaceably  withdrew  to  Plymouth,  where  his 
teaching  was  well  approved  as  long  as  Mr.  Bradford  was 
Governor.  But  when  Mr.  Winslow  came  into  that  office, 
wTho  with  Massachusetts  was  against  a  full  toleration  in  reli- 
gious matters,4  Mr.  Williams  peaceably  retired  to  Salem,  and 
took  the  charge  of  that  flock  ;  but  for  the  church's  receiv- 
ing him  without  the  rulers'  leave,  they  took  away  some  of 
their  possessions,  till  they  would  give  up  Mr.  Williams  ;  and, 
for  his  faithful  admonitions  to  them  on  that  account,  they 

'The  original  document  prob«*ibly  had  in  several  instances  the  old  abbreviation, 
"yr,"  which  sometimes  stood  for  their,  and  sometimes  for  your.  Backus  under- 
stood it  in  the  former  sense,  and  the  copyist  of  the  Rhode  Island  Records  in  the 
latter.      Backnt'l  interpretation  seems  tar  preferable  to  the  other. — Ed. 

'Rhode  Island  Records.  'On  Toleration,  p.  Gl. 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  154. 


[1662.]  DIFFICULTIES  WITH  THE  INDIANS.  271 

expelled  him  out  of  their  jurisdiction.  But  who  can  tell 
how  far  that  extends  1  When  he  came  first  into  this  coun- 
try all  the  Indians  from  Boston  and  Plymouth  bays  to  Pau- 
catuck  River  were  tributaries  to  the  chief  sachems  of  Narra- 
gansett ;  and  from  thence  to  Hudson's  River,  and  over  all 
Long  Island,  Sassicus  had  extended  his  power,  even  over 
twenty-six  sachems.1  The  Pequots  being  thus  powerful, 
made  war  upon  the  Narragansetts,  who,  in  April,  1632,  had 
a  number  of  their  tributaries  out  of  Plymouth  and  Massa- 
chusetts colonies  to  assist  them  against  him ;  yet  Sassicus 
prevailed,  and  extended2  his  territories  ten  miles  east  of 
Paucatuck  River.  About  the  same  time  Natuwannute,  a  sa- 
chem of  the  country  about  where  Hartford  now  stands,  with 
a  number  of  his  men,  "  were  driven  out  from  thence  by  the 
potency  of  the  Pequots/'  and  came  to  our  fathers  at  Ply- 
mouth, and  requested  them  to  go  up  and  trade  there,  though 
"  their  end  was  to  be  restored  to  their  country  again."  This 
motion  was  complied  with,  and  a  trading  house  was  set  up 
among  them.3  This  was  such  an  eyesore  to  the  Pequots, 
that  in  1634  they  murdered  Captain  Stone  and  seven  men 
with  him,  plundered  his  goods  and  sunk  his  vessel,  because 
they  were  going  up  Connecticut  river  to  trade  there.  Two 
years  after  they  murdered  Captain  Oldham  as  I  have  related.4 
Upon  the  notice  which  Mr.  Williams  gave  them  of  this  sad 
event,  Mr.  Endicott  with  an  armed  force  was  sent  in  August 
25,  1636,  to  try  to  bring  the  Pequots  to  terms  ;  but  Johnson 
says  it  proved  a  bootless  voyage,  only  his  leaving  some  men 
with  Underhill,  at  Say  brook  fort,  prevented  its  being  taken. 
Upon  his  return  Sassicus  applied  to  the  Narragansetts  for  a 
reconciliation,  that  they  all  might  join  to  expel  these  new 
comers  ;  representing,  "  that  if  they  should  help,  or  suffer 
the  English  to  subdue  the  Pequots,  they  would  thereby  make 

Connecticut  Assembly's  answer  to  the  king's  letter,  1773,  written  by  Governor 
Trumbull. 

2Prince's  Annals,  pp.  58,  59.   [391,  392.] 
'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  II,  pp.  469,  470.  [416.] 
4Page  59.— Ed. 


272  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

way  fur  their  own  future  ruin  ;  and  that  they  need  not  come 
to  open  battle  with  the  English  ;  for  only  to  fire  their  houses  ; 
kill  their  cattle,  lay  in  ambush  and  shoot  them  as  they  went 
about  their  business,  they  would  quickly  be  forced  to  leave 
the  country,  and  the  Indians  not  be  exposed  to  any  great 
hazard."1 

Had  two  such  politic  and  potent  princes  as  Sassicus  and 
Miantinomo  were,  united  in  this  scheme,  when  Boston  was 
but  six  years  old,  Providence  and' Hartford  but  a  few  months, 
and  New  Haven  not  begun,  what  would  have  become  of  all 
their  claims  they  were  now  contending  for  ]  And  it  is  most 
evident  that  Mr.  Williams  was  the  very  instrument  of  pre- 
venting the  junction  of  those  two  great  Indian  powers,  and 
so  of  saving  the  vast  interest  we  now  have  in  this  country. 
But  how  was  he  requited  for  it?  Why,  after  Warwick  men 
had  obtained  as  fair  a  title  to  that  town,  as  the  Massachu- 
setts ever  had  to  Boston,  yet  because  they  were  not  ortho- 
dox they  were  fetched  away  by  force  of  arms  ;  and  the  cap- 
tive sachem  was  murdered  for  fear  he  should  revenge  such 
doings.  And  when  the  orthodox  party  afterward  proclaimed 
war  upon  his  successors,  because  they  were  for  revenging 
his  death,  and  Mr.  Williams,  to  prevent  the  further  effusion 
of  blood,  had  prevailed  with  them  to  go  down  and  settle  the 
matter  at  Boston,  how  were  they  treated?2  They  were  not 
only  compelled  to  sign  an  engagement  to  pay  all  damages 
and  costs,  and  to  quit  any  claim  to  the  Pequot  country,  but 
also  to  say,  t;  The  Narragansett  and  Nyantick  sagamores  and 
deputy,  hereby  agree  and  covenant,  to  and  with  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  United  Colonies,  that  henceforward,  they 
will  neither  give,  grant,  sell,  or  in  any  manner  alienate  any 
part  of  their  country,  nor  any  parcel  of  land  therein,  either 
to  any  [of  the]  English  or  others,  without  consent  or  allow- 
ance of  the  said  Commissioners.1'3     Two  years   after,4  upon 

!Major  Mason's  history  of  the  Pequot  war  and  others.  [Massaehusetts  Historical 
Collections,  iu-cond  scries,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  123.] 
Tp.  101  — 168. 
"This  agreement  was  made  August  27,  1G45.— Ed.  4July  30,  1G47. — Ed. 


[1662.]  AFFAIRS  WITH  THE  INDIANS.  273 

their  calling  for  their  pay,  Passicus  sent  them  word,  that 
"  when  he  made  this  covenant,  he  did  it  in  fear  of  the  army, 
and  though  the  English  kept  their  covenant  with  him  there, 
and  let  him  go  from  them,  yet  the  army  was  to  go  to  Narra- 
gansett  immediately  and  kill  him  there  ;  therefore  said  the 
Commissioners,  Set  your  hands  to  such  and  such  things,  or  else 
the  army  shall  go  forth  to  the  NarragansettsT  In  answer  to 
which  the  Commissioners  say,  "After  covenants  have  been 
solemnly  made,  and  hostages  given,  and  a  small  part  of  the 
wampum  paid,  and  all  the  rest  due,  now  to  pretend  fears  is 
a  vain  and  offensive  excuse."1  This  shows  that  they  them- 
selves did  not  neglect  the  rule  they  prescribed  to  their  Gen- 
eral in  that  expedition,  viz. : — 

You  are  to  use  your  best  endeavors  to  gain  the  enemies'  canoes,  or 
utterly  to  destroy  them,  and  herein  you  may  make  good  use  of  the  Indians 
our  confederates,  as  you  may  do  upon  other  occasions,  having  due  regard 
to  the  honor  of  God,  who  is  both  our  sword  and  shield,  and  to  the  dis- 
tance which  is  to  be  observed  betwixt  Christians  and  barbarians,  as  well 
in  war  as  in  other  negotiations.2 

Sixteen  months  before  that  covenant  was  made,  Passicus 
and  other  heads  of  their  tribes,  had  by  an  ample  deed  re- 
signed over  and  submitted  all  those  lands  to  the  supreme 
authority  in  England,  and  Mr.  Williams  had  procured  a 
charter  thereof  from  thence,  extending  unto  the  Pequot 
River  and  country.3  The  Massachusetts  Records,  upon  grant- 
ing Fisher's  Island  to  Mr.  Winthrop,  say  it  lies  against  the 
mouth  of  Pequot  River.  What  right  of  jurisdiction  then 
had  those  colonies  east  of  that  river  \  and  what  right  had 
Passicus  to  engage  any  of  those  lands  to  them,  which  he 
had  submitted  to  another  authority  so  long  before  ?     By  re- 

aRecords  of  the  United  Colonies. 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  151. — B. 

The  words  above  quoted  are  from  a  document  issued  by  the  Commissioners  of 
the  United  Colonies  entitled,  "Instructions  for  Sergeant-Major  Gibbones,  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  our  military  forces,  and  for  such  as  are  joined  with  him  in  a 
council  of  war." — Ed. 

3Pp.  122,  161. 

18 


274  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

peated  endeavors  the  Commissioners  had  got  all  the  wam- 
pum that  was  promised  in  said  covenant  but  three  hundred 
and  eight  fathoms,  before  they  met  at  Hartford,  on  Septem- 
ber 5,  1650  ;  and  then  Captain  Atherton  was  sent,  with 
twenty  armed  men,  to  demand  the  remainder,  with  orders  to 
seize  their  goods  if  the  Indians  refused  to  pay  it ;  and  if  re- 
sistance should  be  made  so  as  any  life  was  lost,  that  a  special 
meeting  of  the  Commissioners  should  then  be  called  to  make 
war  upon  them  for  it.  He  accordingly  went,  and  placed  his 
men  round  Passicus's  tent,  and  going  into  it,  seized  the  sa- 
chem by  the  hair  of  his  head,  and  threatened  to  shoot  him, 
if  any  resistance  was  made.  This  terrified  them  so  much, 
that  the  wampum  was  presently  paid.  On  July  25,  1651, 
at  the  desire  of  the  Narragansett  sachems,  Mr.  Williams 
wrote  to  the  Governor  at  Boston,  an  account  of  sundry  com- 
plaints they  had  against  Uncas  ;  which  letter  was  laid  before 
the  Commissioners  when  they  met  at  New  Haven,  the  4th 
of  September  following  ;  but  though  Uncas  was  present, 
yet  they  acted  nothing  upon  it,  because  the  Narragansetts 
had  not  sent  any  of  their  men  to  support  the  charge.  At 
the  same  time  a  tribute  of  three  hundred  and  twelve  fathoms 
of  wampum  was  paid  by  Uncas,  Ninecrost  and  others,  on 
account  of  the  Pequots  they  had  among  them ;  and  upon 
laying  of  it  down  they  demanded : — 

Why  this  tribute  was  required,  how  long  it  should  continue,  and  whether 
the  children  to  be  born  hereafter  were  to  pay  it?  All  which  being  consid- 
ered, the  Commissioners  by  Thomas  Stanton,  answered,  that  the  tribute 
by  agreement  hath  been  due  yearly  from  the  Pequots  siuce  anno  1038,  for 
sundry  murders  without  provocation  committed  by  them  upon  several  of 
the  English  at  several  times,  as  they  found  opportunity  ;  refusing  either  to 
deliver  up  the  murderers  or  to  do  justice  upon  them  ;  [and]  so  drawing  on 
a  war  upon  themselves,  to  the  great  charge  and  inconvenience  of  the  Eng- 
lish ;  which  war,  through  the  good  hand  of  our  God,  issued  first  in  a  con- 
quest over  that  treacherous  and  bloody  people,  and  after  by  agreement,  (to 
spare  as  much  as  might  be  even  such  guilty  blood,)  in  a  small  tribute,  to 
be  paid  in  different  proportions,  by,  and  for  their  males,  according  to  their 
different  ages  yearly;  but  hath  not  hitherto  been  satisfied,  though  de- 
manded.    Wherefore,  ....  though  twelve  years'  tribute  were  due  before 


[1662.J  AFFAIRS  WITH  THE  INDIANS.  275 

the  year  1650,  [this  last  year]  and  though  the  agreement  was  for  a  yearly 
tribute  to  be  paid  by  them  and  theirs,. so  long  as  they  continue  in  this  part 
of  the  country  ;  yet  the  Commissioners,  something  to  ease  their  spirits  [in 
reference  to  this  just  burthen,]  and  to  engage  them  to  an  inoffensive  and 
peaceable  carriage,  ....  declared  that  the  payment  of  this  tribute  shall 
be  limited  to  ten  years,  [of  which]  this  last  year  to  be  reckoned  the  first ; 
after  which,  [time]  unless  they  draw  trouble  unto  themselves,  they  shall 
be  free.1 

Such  an  uneasiness  among  the  Narragansetts  was  dis- 
covered two  years  after,  that  another  army  was  raised  and 
sent  against  them,  which  compelled  them  into  another  treaty, 
which  not  being  otherwise  fulfilled,  the  sachems  were 
brought,  on  October  13,  1660,  to  mortgage  all  their  lands,  to 
Major  Atherton,  and  about  twenty  associates  with  him,  for 
six  hundred  fathoms  of  wampum,  said  then  to  be  due  to  the 
Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies.  I  find  also  by  the 
records,  that  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  could  never 
agree  how  to  divide  the  Pequot  lands  betwixt  them,  till  the 
Commissioners  from  Plymouth  and  New  Haven  had  the  case 
referred  to  them;  and  they  on  September  16,  1658,  settled 
the  line  betwixt  them,  which  was  to  be  Mistick  River  (which 
runs  in  betwixt  Stonington  and  Groton)  up  to  the  pond,  by 
Lan thorn  Hill,  and  thence  from  the  middle  of  that  pond  to 
run  a  north  course  ;  Massachusetts  to  have  both  property 
and  jurisdiction  from  thence  to  Wecapaug  Brook,  which  was 
the  easterly  bounds  of  Sassicus's  conquest.  Pataquamscut 
purchase  was  made  partly  in  1657,  and  partly  in  1658,  by 
some  inhabitants  of  Rhode  Island,  and  John  Hull  of  Bos- 
ton, (who  got  a  great  estate  by  coining  their  silver  money.) 
This  purchase  was  about  thirteen  miles  in  length,  and  seven 
in  breadth,  in  the  heart  of  the  Narragansett  country.2 

Records  of  the  United  Colonies. 

2In  1668,  these  purchasers  gave  three  hundred  acres  of  their  best  land,  for  an 
orthodox  person,  to  preach  God's  word  to  the  inhabitants ;  which  has  cost  much 
contention  in  the  law.     Dowglass,  Vol.  II.    p.  104. 

In  1752,  Dr.  Macsparran  said,  "  I  have  been  engaged  in  a  law  suit  about  Glebe 
land  twenty-eight  years,  and  the  Independent  teacher  has  at  last  obtained  a  decree 


276  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

When  their  Assembly  met  at  Newport,  May  21,  1661, 
they  appointed  a  committee  upon  the  letters  they  had  then 
received  from  the  Massachusetts,  "  who  seriously  considered 
and  debated  circumstances,  concerning  the  matter  in  differ- 
ence, betwixt  the  gentlemen,  and  some  friends  with  them, 
that  are  active  in  sharing  the  Narragansett  lands  in  the 
colony,  without  the  consent  of  the  colony  ;  and  we  [do]  find 
by  their  letter,  that  those  gentlemen,  Major  Atherton  and 
associates,  are  not  so  well  informed  of  the  intent  of  the 
colony  as  might  be  requisite."  They  concluded  to  write  and 
give  them  better  information,  and  to  offer  to  leave  the  case 
to  referees  to  settle  it ;  but  say  : — 

In  case  a  fair  issue  cannot  be  had,  as  is  desired,  then,  in  a  speedy  and 
convenient  time  and  season,  to  forbid  the  said  gentlemen,  or  any  of  their 
company,  in  his  Majesty's  name,  from  further  proceeding  in  the  said  pur- 
chase, as  to  possessing  or  sharing  of  any  of  the  said  lands,  and  to  prose- 
cute [against]  them,  or  any  of  them,  in  case  they  still  proceed  without 
consent  of  the  colony,  as  concluding  that  such  their  proceedings  are  con- 
trary to  the  crown  and  dignity  of  his  Majesty,  and  to  the  peace  aud  well- 
being  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  in  this  colony. 

The  27th  of  August  following,  an  Assembly  met  at  Ports- 
mouth, of  which  Mr.  Williams  was  a  member,  when  they 
sent  a  commission  and  letters  to  Mr.  Clarke,  to  solicit  for  a 
new  charter.1  April  27th,  1662,  the  town  of  Providence 
gave  Mr.  Clarke  a  full  purchase  right  of  land  therein  as  a 
free  gift.  The  next  month  came  the  foregoing  letter2  from 
Boston  to  their  Assembly,   with   account  of  their  dealings 

in  council  in  his  favor;  so  that  I  am  forced  to  sit  down  hy  the  loss  of  at  least  six 
hundred  pounds  sterling."    America  Dissected,  p.  42. 

I  am  told  that  Dr.  Stennett,  a  Baptist  minister  in  London,  had  a  great  hand  in 
procuring  this  decree  for  Mr.  Joseph  Torry. 

'This  commission  was  drawn  up  and  adopted  by  the  previous  Assemhly  winch 
met  in  Warwick,  October  16,  KiGO,  and  was  "  drawn  out,"  that  is,  copied  in  due 
form,  and  sealed  at  the  session  in  Portsmouth.  Mr.  Williams  was  not  a  member  of 
the  former  Assembly.  The  commission  simply  appointed  Mr.  Clarke  the  "undoubt- 
ed agent  and  attorney"  of  the  colony,  but  <li<l  not  direct  him  "to  solicit  a  new  char- 
ter." Probably  this  duty  was  assigned  him  in  the  letters,  which  seem  to  have  had 
their  origin  in  the  later  session    of  the  Assembly.     R.  I.  Colonial  Records. — Ed. 

2See  page  20'.). —Ed. 


[1662.]  MASSACHUSETTS'  LETTER  TO  RHODE  ISLAND.  277 

with  men  whom  they  called  trespassers,  of  whom  Mr.  Bur- 
dick  was  then  a  member  of  Mr.  Clarke's  church.  He  married 
Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard's  daughter,  and  has  a  large  posterity 
remaining  in  and  about  Westerly  to  this  day.  Mr.  Sanford, 
and  Mr.  Greene,  were  now  sent  to  Boston  to  make  another 
trial  for  an  amicable  settlement  of  this  controversy.  It  is  to 
be  noted,  that  neither  of  those  colonies,  which  had  made 
such  a  noise  about  their  rights,  had  ever  received  any  char- 
ter, either  from  king  or  parliament,  of  any  lands  to  the  west 
of  Providence  colony',  till  Connecticut,  by  the  help  of  Mr. 
Winthrop,  obtained  one  dated  April  23,  1662,  which  took 
New  Haven  into  the  same  colony.  When  the  Commission- 
ers met  at  Boston  the  4th  of  September,  they  wrote  to  Rhode 
Island  rulers  in  their  former  strain,  and  informed  them  of  a 
warrant  they  had  seen,  signed  by  Joseph  Torry,  their  Secre- 
tary, in  the  name  of  the  General  Court,  "  warning  Captain 
Gookin  and  others  to  desist  and  forbear  any  further  or 
future  possession  of  any  [of  the]  lands  at  or  about  Pauca- 
tuck  as  they  shall  answer  the  contrary  at  their  peril ;  yet 
withal  expressing  your  submission  to  his  Majesty's  determi- 
nation. Wherefore  (say  the  Commissioners)  being  earnest- 
ly[jointly]  desirous  to  prevent  any  further  disturbance  of  the 
peace  of  the  colonies,  though  we  have  no  doubt  of  the 
present  right  and  interests  of  the  Massachusetts  to  those 
lands  we  are  willing  to  improve  the  argument  which  [that] 
yourselves  have  owned,  and  therefore  thought  meet  to  cer- 
tify you,  that  we  have  read  and  perused  a  charter  of  incor- 
poration, under  the  broad  seal  of  England,  sent  over  in  the 
last  ship,  granted  to  some  gentlemen  of  Connecticut,  where- 
in the  land  at  Paucatuck  and  Narragansett  are  contained, 
which  we  hope  will  prevail  with  you  to  require  and  cause 
your  people  to  withdraw  themselves,  and  desist  from  further 
disturbance." 

The  words  in  said  charter  which  they  built  this  upon, 
bounded  that  colony  east, t;  by  the  Narragansett  River,  com- 
monly called  Narragansett  Bay,  where  the  said  river,  falleth 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

into  the  sea."  Now  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  Plymouth 
patent  was  bounded  westward  by  Narragansett  River  and 
Bay,  and  these  colonists  pretended  that  Warwick  was  inclu- 
ded therein,  which  could  not  be,  unless  Paucatuck  was  the 
river  meant  ;  and  if  it  was,  where  is  their  right  now  to  go 
east  of  it  by  Connecticut  charter  I  The  truth  is,  names  are 
arbitrary,  and  those  worthy  governors,  Bradford  and  Win- 
slow,  took  Patucket  to  be  the  river  intended  in  their  patent.1 
And  there  was  now  less  room  left  for  this  dispute;  for  on 
July  8,  1663,  his  Majesty  granted  Rhode  Island  charter, 
which  describes  their  west  boundaries  to  be  the  middle  chan- 
nel of  Paucatuck  River  up  to  its  head,  and  thence  a  north 
course  to  the  south  line  of  Massachusetts  ;  which  river  says 
he,  "  having  been  yielded  after  much  debate,  for  the  fixed 
and  certain  bounds  between  these  our  said  colonies,  by  the 
agents  thereof ;  who  have  also  agreed,  that  the  said  Pauca- 
tuck River  shall  be  also  called,  alias,  Narragansett  River  ;  and 
to  prevent  future  disputes  that  otherwise  might  arise  thereby 
forever  hereafter,  shall  be  construed,  deemed  and  taken  to 
be  the  Narragansett  River,  in  our  late  grant  to  Connecticut 
colony,  mentioned  as  the  eastwardly  bounds  of  that  colony." 
This  colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations, 
was  to  extend  three  English  miles  east  and  north-east  of  the 
most  eastern  and  north-eastern  parts  of  the  Narragansett 
Bay,  unto  the  mouth  of  Providence  River,  and  thence  by  the 
eastwardly  bank  of  it  up  to  Patucket  Falls,  being  the  most 
westwardly  line  of  Plymouth  colony  ;  and  thence  due  north 
to  the  Massachusetts  line,  by  which  it  is  bounded  on  the 
north,  and  by  the  ocean  on  the  south,  including  Block  Island, 
and  the  other  islands  within  their  bay.  As  the  Indians  had 
formerly  sent  over  a  submission  of  themselves  and  land,  to 
the  king's  father,  they  had  now  sent  another  to  him  ;  where- 
upon he  says  in  this  charter  : — 

It  shall  not  be  lawful  to,  or    for    the    rest    of  the    colonics,   to    invade  or 
molest  the  native,  Indians,  or  any  other    inhabitants    inhabiting  within  the 

1  (See  pp.  57,  58. 


[1663.]  RHODE  ISLAND  RECEIVES  A  NEW  CHARTER.  279 

bounds  and  limits  hereafter  mentioned  ;  they  having  subjected  themselves 
unto  us,  and  being  by  us  taken  into  our  special  protection,  without  the 
knowledge  and  consent  of  the  governor  and  company  of  our  colony  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations. 

This  charter  appointed  that  a  Governor, Deputy  Governor, 
and  ten  Assistants  should  be  elected  annually  on  the  first 
Wednesday  in  May,  who,  with  deputies  or  representatives 
from  each  town,  were  to  make  laws,  not  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  England,  make  grants  of  land,  constitute  courts  of 
justice,  and  appoint  their  officers  both  civil  and  military. 
Mr.  Clarke  sent  over  this  charter,  and  Captain  Gregory 
Dexter1  fetched  it  from  Boston  ;  upon  which  a  large  assem- 
bly of  the  freemen  in  all  the  colony  met  at  Newport,  Novem- 
ber 24th,  and  ordered  Captain  Dexter  [Baxter]  to  take  forth 
the  charter  and  read  it  before  all  the  people,  and  hold  it  up 
with  the  broad  seal  to  their  view,  and  then  to  have  it  safely 
deposited  with  Governor  Arnold.2  And  they  voted  to  pay 
all  Mr.  Clarke's  disbursements  in  going  to  England,  in  their 
service  there,  and  upon  his  intended  return  ;  as  also  one 
hundred  pounds  sterling  as  a  free  gratuity  to  him,  besides 
those  expenses  ;  yea,  and  to  give  Captain  Dexter  [Baxter] 
twenty-five  pounds  sterling  for  his  service  and  faithfulness  in 
bringing  the  charter  from  Boston.  Mr.  Clarke's  letters  were 
read,  upon  which  letters  of  thanks  were  ordered  to  be  sent 
to  the  king,  and  to  Lord  Clarendon,  for  these  great  favors 
they  had  received  by  their  means.     The  next  day  (after  the 

^his  name  should  be  "George  Baxter."  Bancroft  says,  Vol.  II,  p.  63,  note, 
"Backus,  almost  always  very  accurate,  here  mistakes  the  name."  He  was  doubtless 
led  into  the  error  by  the  fact  that  Gregory  Dexter  is  a  name  well  known  in  Rhode 
Island  annals,  Mistakes  in  deciphering  old  records  are  among  the  most  excusable 
of  mistakes  ;  and  the  Records  of  Providence  seem,  from  the  wide  difference  between 
different  copyists,  to  be  especially  obscure. — Ed. 

2" Voted ;  That  the  box  in  which  the  King's  gracious  letters  were  enclosed  be 
opened,  and  the  letters,  with  the  broad  seal  thereto  affixed,  be  taken  forth  and  read 
by  Captain  George  Baxter,  in  the  audience  and  view  of  all  the  people  ;  which  was 
accordingly  done,  and  the  said  letters,  with  his  Majesty's  royal  stamp  and  the  broad 
seal,  with  much  becoming  gravity,  held  up  on  high,  and  presented  to  the  perfect 
view  of  the  people,  and  then  returned  into  the  box  and  locked  up  by  the  Governor 
in  order  to  the  safe  keeping  of  it."     R.  I.  Colonial  Records. — Ed. 


280  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

Governor,  Deputy  Governor,  and  six  Assistants  had  taken 
their  engagements)  they  called  the  sachems  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts  and  Xiantics  before  them,  and  let  them  know  what 
the  king  had  done  for  them  ;  upon  which  they  said,  "  they 
return  his  Majesty  great  thanks  for  his  gracious  relief,  in 
releasing  their  lands  from  those  forced  purchases  and  mort- 
gages by  some  of  the  other  colonies."  But  another  thing 
which  is  by  no  means  to  be  omitted  is,  that  the  king  says,  in 
their  petition  for  the  charter  they  declared  : — 

That  it  is  much  on  their  hearts,  if  they  may  be  permitted,  to  hold  forth  a 
lively  experiment,  that  a  most  flourishing  civil  state  may  stand  aud  best  be 
maintained,  and  that  among  our  English  subjects,  with  a  full  liberty  of 
religious  concernments,  and  that  true  piety  rightly  grounded  upon  gospel 
principles,  will  give  the  best  and  greatest  security  to  sovereignty,  and  will 
lay  in  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obligation  to  true  loyalty.1 

This  petition  was  therefore  fully  granted  ;  and  above  a 
hundred  years  after,  a  worthy  gentleman  well  says  : — 

This  great  experiment  hath  been  made,  [and  hath  fully  answered  the 
expectations  of  the  beneficent,  royal  mind,  that  proposed  it,]  and  it  hath 
fully  appeared,  that  a  flourishing  civil  state,  aud  the  most  unstained  loyalty, 
may  stand  without  the  help  of  any  religious  party  tests  to  support  them  ; 
and  tfoe  Christian  religion  is  as  little  indebted  to  human  laws  for  its  support, 
as  it  is  to  human  inventions,  for  the  purity  of  its  morals,  and  the  sublimity 
of  its  doctrines.2 

For  seven  years  past  there  had  been  many  contentions 
about  lands,  and  strivings  to  strain  Indian  purchases,  beyond 
their  just  limits,  in  Providence,  Newport,  and  other  parts  of 
the  colony,  which  Mr.  Williams  had  a  great  hand  in  com- 
posing and  settling ;  the  particulars  of  which  would  be 
very  instructive,  had  we  room  for  them.       And  his  hope  in 

'It  is  perhaps  not  strange  that  this  familiar  and  ooble  sentence  lias  been,  by  im- 
plication at  least,  ascribed  to  Roger  Williams.  Sec  Morgan  Edwards's  History  of 
the  Baptists  of  Rhode  Island;  Benedict's  History  of  the  Baptists,  Vol.  II.  pp.  489, 
490.  It  was  the  product  of  a  spirit  kindred  to  that  of  Williams,  it  being  part  of 
John  Clarke's  second  address  or  petition  to  the   King.      R.  I.  Colonial  Records; 

Arnold's  History  of  Rhode  Island.  Vol.  I,  p.  280.— Ed. 

'History  of  Providence.  [Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  Second  ISeries, 
Vol.  IX,  p.  196.] 


[1663.]  f  QUESTIONS  OF  BOUNDARY  LINES.  281 

1647,-  that  government,  held  forth  through  love,  union  and 
order,  though  by  few  in  number,  and  mean  in  condition, 
yet  would  withstand  and  overcome  mighty  opposers,1  was 
wonderfully  granted  and  confirmed  ;  the  memory  of  which, 
in  the  figure  of  an  anchor  with  this  word  for  its  motto,  in 
their  colony  seal,  has  been  continued  from  that  time  to  this.2 
Mr.  Clarke  returned  June  7,  1664,  after  he  had  served  his 
colony  at  the  British  Court  twelve  years.  In  October  fol- 
lowing the  Assembly  appointed  him,  Mr.  Williams  and 
others,  to  inspect  their  laws,  to  see  if  any  of  them  were 
contrary  to  their  charter,  and  to  make  a  table  of  them.3  A 
committee  was  also  appointed  to  consider  of  their  eastern 
and  western  boundaries,  and  to  write  to  the  other  colonies 
concerning  them.  Connecticut  still  contended  for  power  and 
jurisdiction  in  Narragansett  and  offered  to  leave  the  case  to 
the  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  ;  which  Rhode 
Island  would  not  do.4  The  king's  Commissioners  who  were 
now  sent  over,  heard  the  complaints  'of  the  sachems  and 
others,  and  entered  upon  the  Narragansett  country  in  the 
king's  name,  and  called  it  the  king's  province.     But  on  the 

*Page  168. 

2In  1647,  the  General  Assembly  ordered,  "The  seal  of  the  Province  shall  bean 
anchor  ;  in  1664,  they  ordered  that  the  seal  be  changed  by  inscribing  above  the 
anchor  the  word  hope. — Ed. 

3Two  years  later  Mr.  Clarke  was  again  assigned  a  similar  duty.  "It  is  ordered  that 
Mr.  John  Clarke  is  deputed  and  authorized  to  compare  all  the  laws  of  the  colony 
into  a  good  method  and  form,  leaving  out  what  maybe  superfluous,  and  adding  what 
may  appear  unto  him  necessary,  as  well  for  the  regulation  of  Courts  as  otherwise." 
R.  I.  Colonial  Records. — Ed. 

4John  Leverett,  afterwards  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  wrote  to  Sir  Thomas 
Temple  of  London,  as  follows  :— "Connecticut  have  offered  to  refer  the  matter  [of  the 
boundary  line]  to  the  two  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth ;  to  which  motion, 
divers  of  Rhode  Island  will  come,  but  others  refuse,  upon  what  ground  is  not  under- 
stood, these  colonies  not  being  interested  in  the  quarrel  or  reason  of  it;  [though 
some  of  the  inhabitants  may  be  in  the  land,  or  claim  an  interest  therein,  but  the 
government  do  not,]  so  that  that  course  might  have  been  neighborly,  to  have  tried 
for  an  issue  that  way  before  there  had  been  giving  a  trouble  to  his  Majesty  in  so 
small  a  matter  as  it  is  supposed  that  will  be  when  heard."  Massachusetts  History, 
Vol.  Ill,  [Hutchinson's  Collection  of  Original  Papers,]  p.  382.  Any  one  who  knows 
the  attitude  in  which  the  colony  of  Plymouth,  and  especially  that  of  Massachusetts 
stood  toward  Rhode  Island,  will  readily  understand  upon  what  grounds  some  in 
Rhode  Island  should  refuse  this  proposal. — Ed. 


282  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

east  line  they  allowed  Plymouth  colony  to  come  to  the  water, 
till  his  Majesty's  pleasure  should  be  further  known.1  And 
so  the  line  continued,  till  other  Commissioners  in  1741,  set- 
tled the  line  according  to  Rhode  Island  charter,  which  gave 
them  the  towns  of  Bristol,  Warren,  Barrington,  Tiverton 
and  Little  Compton,  which  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  had 
held  till  then. 

The  first  Baptist  church  within  that  which  is  now  the 
Massachusetts  State,  was  constituted  in  "Rehoboth  this  year ; 
Mr.  Holmes  and  his  friends  having  only  held  a  meeting 
there  for  a  while,  and  then  removed  to  Newport.  For  a 
more  clear  idea  of  its  original  we  must  look  over  into  Wales, 
where  at  Ilston  in  Glamorganshire,  a  Baptist  church  was 
formed,  October  1,  1649;  the  beginning  whereof  their  rec- 
ords describe  thus,  viz.  : — 

We  cannot  but  admire  at  the  unsearchable  wisdom,  power  and  love  of 
God,  in  bringing  about  his  own  designs,  far  above,  and  beyond  the  capacity 
and  understanding  of  the  wisest  of  men.  Thus,  to  the  glory  of  his  own 
great  name,  hath  he  dealt  with  us  ;  for  when  there  had  been  no  company 
or  society  of  people,  holding  forth  and  professing  the  doctrine,  worship, 
order  aud  discipline  of  the  gospel,  according  to  the  primitive  institution, 
that  ever  we  heard  of  in  all  Wales,  since  the  apostacy,  it  pleased  the  Lord 
to  choose  this  dark  corner  to  place  his  name  in,  and  honor  us,  undeserving 
creatures,  with  the  happiness  of  being  the  first  in  all  these  parts,  among 
whom  was  practiced  the  glorious  ordinance  of  baptism,  and  here  to  gather 
the  first  church  of  baptized  believers. 

From  thence  they  go  on  to  relate,  how  Mr.  John  Miles 
and  Mr.  Thomas  Proud,  went  up  to  London  the  next  preced- 
ing spring,  and,  by  the  direction  of  Providence,  came  into 
the  Baptist  society  at  the  Glass-house  in  Broad  street,  under 
the  care  of  Mr.  William  Consett,  and  Mr.  Edward  Draper, 
"  immediately  after  they  had  kept  a  day  to  seek  the  Lord, 
that  he  would  send  laborers  into  the  dark  corners  of  the 
land."  Those  travellers  were  well  received,  and  were  soon 
sent  back  into  their  own  country  again,  and  were  instrumen- 
tal of  gathering  a  Baptist  church  at  the  time  above  men- 
Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  382,  414,  415. 


[1663.]  EXECUTION  OF  SIR  HENRY  V4NE.  283 

tioned ;  and  which,  by  a  blessing  upon  their  labors,  in- 
creased by  the  close  of  the  next  year  to  fifty-five  members. 
In  1651,  forty  more  joined  to  it ;  forty-seven  in  1652,  and  by 
the  end  of  1660,  two  hundred  and  sixty -three  persons  had 
joined  to  that  church,  whose  names  all  now  stand  in  a  neat 
book  of  records  which  they  kept ;  which  contain  a  distinct 
account  of  the  means  and  methods  they  took  to  promote 
vital  and  practical  religion  among  the  several  branches  of 
their  society  ;  as  also  letters  of  correspondence  to  and  from 
their  brethren  in  various  parts  of  Englaud  and  Ireland. 

But  here  another  scene  opens. 

The  Presbyterians  had  been  as  much  against  equal  relig- 
ous  liberty  as  the  Episcopalians,  and  manifested  as  great 
bitterness  against  those  who  broke  their  power  in  the  long 
parliament.  These  two  parties  joined  in  restoring  the  sec- 
ond Charles  to  the  throne,  who  came  in  with  plausible  prom- 
ises of  indulgence  to  tender  consciences ;  and  great  pains 
were  taken  to  accommodate  matters  between  them,  without 
any  good  effect.  The  Episcopalians  having  got  the  power 
into  their  hands,  determined  to  crush  all  that  opposed  it. 
Among  the  rest  they  wreaked  their  vengeance  on  Sir  Henry 
Yane,  whom  they  beheaded  in  August,  1662.  "His  indis- 
cretion and  insolence  (says  a  great  author)  as  well  on  his 
trial  as  his  execution,  have  been  extremely  aggravated;  but 
it  is  easy  to  see,  it  was  only  to  save  the  king's  honor,  who 
having  positively  promised  a  pardon  to  all  except  the  king's 
judges,  could  not  avoid  granting  a  pardon  to  Yane,  without 
violating  his  promise."1  And  when  Yane's  friends  per- 
suaded him  to  make  some  submission  in  order  to  save  his 
life,  he  said,  "  If  the  king  does  not  think  himself  more  con- 
cerned for  his  honor  and  word  than  I  do  for  my  life, I  am  very 
willing  they  should  take  it.  Nay,  I  declare  that  I  value  my 
life  less  in  a  good  cause,  than  the  king  can  do  his  promise." 
A  Presbyterian  author  who  writes  very  bitterly  against  him, 

^apin,  Vol.  II,  p.  631.  [The  History  of  England,  as  well  Ecclesiastical  as  Civil, 
by  Mr.  De  Rapin  Thoyras,  London,  1731,  Vol.  XIII,  p.  305.] 


284  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

yet  owns  that,  "  the  two  things  in  which  he  had  most  suc- 
cess, and  spake  most  plainly,  were  his  earnest  plea  for  uni- 
versal liberty  of  conscience,  and  against  the  magistrates' 
intermeddling  with  religion,  and  his  teaching  his  followers 
to  revile  the  ministry,  calling  them  ordinarily,  black  coats, 
priests,  and  other  names  which  savored  of  reproach."  And 
he  says,  "  No  man  could  die  with  greater  appearance  of  a 
gallant  resolution,  and  fearlessness,  than  he  did,  though 
before  supposed  a  timorous  man ;  insomuch  that  the  manner 
of  his  death  procured  him  more  applause  than  all  the  actions 
of  his  life."1  On  the  twenty-fourth  of  that  month,  called 
St.  Bartholomew's  day,  an  act  of  parliament  was  passed, 
which  ejected  all  teachers,  both  of  churches  and  schools, 
out  of  their  places,  who  would  not  declare  their  assent  or 
consent  to  all  the  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  church  of 
England.  About  two  thousand  were  turned  out  by  it.  The 
method  the  church  party  took  to  procure  this  act,  was  secretly 
to  foment  disturbances  and  tumults  in  different  parts  of  Eng- 
land, and  then  to  persuade  the  parliament  that  the  Presby- 
terians did  it,  and  that  no  peace  could  be  had  with  them  till 
dissenters  were  all  turned  out  of  place.  Among  those  so 
ejected  was  our  Mr.  Miles.2  Upon  which  he  and  some  of  his 
friends  came  over  to  our  country,  and  brought  their  church 
records  with  them.  And  at  Mr.  Butterworth's  house,  in 
Rehoboth,  in  1663,  John  Miles,  elder,  James  Brown,  Nicho- 
las Tanner,  Joseph  Carpenter,  John  Butterworth,  Eldad 
Kingsley,  and  Benjamin  Alby,  joined  in  a  solemn  covenant 
together. 

This  church  was  then  in  Plymouth  colony,  concerning 
whom  Dr.  Mather  says,  "  there  being  many  good  men  among 
those — I  do  not  know  that  they  have  been  persecuted  with 
any  harder  means,  than  those  of  kind  conferences  to  reclaim 
them."3  I  suppose  it  was  so  for  some  years,  and  that  because 

'Calamy'i  Abridgment.  Vol.  I,  pp.  99,  101. 

■Calamy'i  Abridgment,  Vol.  I,  pp.  178—181,  and  Vol.  II.  pp.  781, 

'MagnalU,  Hook  I,  p.  14.     [Vol.  I,  p.  58.] 


[1663.]  BAPTIST  CHURCH  FORMED  IN  SWANZEY.  285 

Mr.  Newman,  who  persecuted  Mr.   Holmes  died  this  year  ; 
but  four  years  after  I  find  it  thus  recorded,  viz. : — 

At  the  Court  holden  [held]  at  Plymouth  the  2d  of  July,  1667,  before 
Thomas  Prince,  Governor,  John  Alden,  Josiah  [Josias]  Winslow,  Thomas 
Soilthworth,  William  Bradford,  Thomas  Hinckley,  Nathaniel  Bacon,  and 
John  Freeman,  assistants.  . .  .Mr.  Miles,  and  Mr.  Brows,  for  their  breach 
of  order,  in  setting  up  of  a  public  meeting  without  the  knowledge  and 
approbation  of  the  Court  to  the  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the  place,  are 
fined  each  of  them  five  pounds,  and  Mr.  Tanner  the  sum  of  one  pound 
[twenty  shillings]  and  we  judge  that  their  continuance  at  Rehoboth,  beiug 
very  prejudicial  to  the  peace  of  that  church  and  that  town,  may  not  be 
allowed  ;  and  do  therefore  order  all  persons  concerned  therein,  wholly  to 
desist  from  the  said  meeting  in  that  place  or  township,  within  this  mouth. 
Yet  in  case  they  shall  remove  their  meeting  unto  some  other  place,  where 
they  may  not  prejudice  any  other  church,  and  shall  give  us  any  reasonable 
satisfaction  respecting  their  principles,  we  know  not  but  they  may  be  per- 
mitted by  this  government  so  to  do. 

And  it  was  no  longer  than  the  30th  of  October  following, 
before  the  Court  made  them  an  ample  grant  of  Wannamoi- 
set  which  they  called  Swanzey.  It  then  included  what  is 
now  Warren  and  Barrington,  and  the  district  of  Shawomet, 
as  well  as  the  present  town  of  Swanzey.1  There  they  made 
a  regular  settlement,2  which  has  continued  to  this  day.    The 

1Plymouth  Records.  Note.  This  town  was  named  on  March  first,  1667-8.  When 
by  mistake  the  first  grant  is  dated,  in  Swanzey  Town  Records ;  but  the  above  I  took 
from  the  Court  Records  at  Plymouth. 

2The  grant  of  this  town  was  made  to  "  Capt.  Thomas  Willet,  Mr.  Paine,  senior, 
Mr.  Brown,  John  Allen,  and  John  Butterworth."  Of  these,  says  John  Comer,  "the 
first  two  were  Paedobaptists,  the  others  Baptists."  Captain  Willet  "  made  the  fol- 
lowing proposals  unto  those  that  were  with  him.  1.  That  no  erroneous  persons  be 
admitted  into  the  township  either  as  an  inhabitant  or  sojourner.  2.  That  no  man 
of  an  evil  behavior  or  contentious  person,  &c,  be  admitted.  3.  That  none  may 
be  admitted  that  may  become  a  charge  to  the  place. 

"  The  ctiurch  of  Christ  here  gathered  and  assembling  did  therefore  make  the  fol- 
lowing address  unto  the  said  Captain  Willet  and  his  associates,  the  trustees,  as 
aforesaid  : — 

Sirs  :  We  being  with  ycu  engaged  (according  to  our  capacities)  in  the  carrying 
on  a  township  according  to  the  grant  given  us  by  the  Honorable  Court,  and  desiring 
to  lay  such  a  foundation  thereof  as  may  effectually  tend  to  God's  glory,  our  future 
peace  and  comfort,  and  the  real  benefit  of  such  as  shall  hereafter  join  with  us 
herein  ;  as  also  to  prevent  all  future  jealousies  and  causes  of  dissatisfaction,  or  dis- 
turbances in  so  good  a  work,   do,  in  relation  to  the  three   proposals  made  by  our 


286  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

families  also  of  Luther,  Cole,  Bowen,  Wheaton,  Martin, 
Barnes,  Thurber,  Bosworth,  Mason,  Child,  and  others,  which 
are  numerous  in  those  parts,  sprang  from  the  early  planters 
of  that  town  and  church.  Their  first  meeting-house  was 
built  a  little  Avest  of  Kelly's  ferry,  against  Warren,  but  Mr. 
Miles  settled  the  west  side  of  the  great  bridge  which  still 
bears  his  name. 

much  honored  Captain  Willet,  humbly  present  to  your  serious  consideration  (before 
we  further  proceed  therein)  that  the  said  proposals  may  be  consented  to  and  sub- 
scribed by  every  townsman  under  the  following  explication  : — 

"  That  the  first  proposal  relating  to  the  non-admisson  of  erroneous  persons  may 
be  only  understood  under  the  following  explications,  viz.  :  of  such  as  hold  damna- 
ble heresies,  inconsistent  with  the  faith  of  the  gospel;  as,  to  deny  the  Trinity,  or 
any  person  therein  ;  the  deity  or  sinless  humanity  of  Christ,  or  the  union  of  both 
natures  in  him,  or  his  full  satisfaction  to  the  divine  justice  of  all  his  elect,  by  his 
active  and  passive  obedience,  or  his  resurrection,  ascension  into  heaven,  interces- 
sion, or  his  second  coming  personally  to  judgment;  or  else  to  deny  the  truth  or 
divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  or  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  or  to  maintain 
any  merit  of  works,  consubstantiation,  transubstantiation,  giving  divine  adoration 
to  any  creature,  or  any  other  anti-christian  doctrine  directly  opposing  the  priestly 
prophetical  or  kingly  offices  of  Christ,  or  any  part  thereof;  (2)  or  such  as  hold 
such  opinions  as  are  inconsistent  with  the  well-being  of  the  place,  as  to  deny  the 
magistrate's  power  to  punish  evil  doers  as  well  as  to  encourage  those  that  do  well, 
or  to  deny  the  first  day  of  the  week  to  be  observed  by  divine  institution  as  the  Lord's 
day  or  Christian  Sabbath,  or  to  deny  the  giving  of  honor  to  whom  honor  is  due,  or 
to  oppose  those  civil  respects  that  are  usually  performed  according  to  the  laudable 
customs  of  our  nation  each  to  other,  as  bowing  the  knee  or  body,  &c,  or  else  to 
deny  the  office,  use  or  authority  of  the  ministry  or  a  comfortable  mainten- 
ance to  be  due  to  them  from  such  as  partake  of  their  teachings,  or  to  speak  re- 
proachfully of  any  of  the  churches  of  Christ  in  the  country,  or  of  any  such  other 
churches  as  are  of  the  same  common  faith  with  us  or  them. 

"  We  desire  that  it  be  aiso  understood  and  declared  that  this  is  not  understood  of 
any  holding  any  opinion  different  from  others  in  any  disputable  point,  yet  in  con- 
troversy among  the  godly  learned,  the  belief  thereof  not  being  essentially  necessary 
to  salvation;  such  as  paedobaptism,  anti-paedobaptism,  church  discipline  or  the  like ; 
but  that  the  minister  or  ministers  of  the  said  town  may  take  their  liberty  to  baptize 
infants  or  grown  persons  as  the  Lord  shall  persuade  their  consciences,  and  so  also 
the  inhabitant-  take  their  liberty  to  bring  their  children  to  baptism  or  to  forbear." 

Tlii-  Is  followed  by  the  "explication"  of  the  other  two  proposals,  and  the  docu- 
ment is  signed  by  John  Myles,  pastor,  and  John  l'.uttcrworth.  Comer's  Manuscript 
Diary.  It  is  evident  that  this  ancient  Baptist  church  was  not,  at  first,  clear  in  the 
view  that  civil  government  has  no  right  of  interference  with  religious  belief;  and 
that  it  took  upon  itself  the  dangerous  task  of  deciding  between  Christian  doctrines 
as  more  or  less  essential.  —  Ed. 


CHAPTER    VI. 


An  account  of  the  constitution  of  the  first  Baptist  church  in  Bos- 
ton, IN  1665,  AND  OF  THEIR  SUFFERINGS  DOWN  TO  1675. 

Mr.  Hubbard  says  : — 

As  some  were  studying  how  baptism  might  be  enlarged  and  extended  to 
the  seed  of  the  faithful  in  their  several  generations,  there  were  others  as 
studious  to  deprive  all  unadult  children  thereof,  and  to  restrain  the  privi- 
lege only  to  adult  believers.1 

And  Dr.  Mather,  after  confessing  that  very  odious  and  un- 
just things  had  been  published  against  Anabaptists  ever  since 
Luther's  time,  says  : — 

Infant  baptism  hath  been  scrupled  by  multitudes  in  our  day,  who  have 
been  in  other  points  most  worthy  Christians,  and  as  holy,  watchful,  fruit- 
ful and  heavenly  people  as  perhaps  any  in  the  world.  Some  few  of  these 
people  have  been  among  the  planters  of  New  England  from  the  beginning, 
and  have  been  welcome  to  the  communion  of  our  churches,  reserving  their 

particular  opinion  unto  themselves At  last  some  of  our  churches  used, 

it  may  be,  a  little  too  much  cogency  towards   the   brethren,  who  would 
weakly  turn  their  backs  when  infants  were  brought  forth  to  be  baptized.2 

Twenty  years  before,  Mr.  Cobbet  had  called  their  so  doing 
a  "profane  trick."  What  their  dealings  were,  which  are 
here  covered  under  the  obscure  term  cogency,  will  presently 

'Hubbard,  p.  590.— Ed. 

2Magnalia,  Book  VII,  p.  27,  [Vol.  II,  p.  459.]  Seth  Sweetser,  who  came  over  to 
Charlestown  in  1638,  from  Tring,  in  Hardfordshire,  was  one  of  those  early  Baptists. 
I  find  by  the  records  that  he  was  received  a  freeman  that  year.  His  son  Benjamin 
was  long  a  useful  member  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Boston,  and  he  has  left  a 
numerous  posterity,  one  of  whom  has  been  schoolmaster  and  town  clerk  in  Charles- 
town  for  sundry  years  past. 


288  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

be  seen.  It  was  such  that  a  number  drew  off  and  met  by 
themselves  in  Charlestown,  till,  on  May  28th,  1665,  Thomas 
Gould,  Thomas  Osburne,  Edward  Drinker,  and  John  George, 
were  baptized,  and  joined  with  Richard  Goodall,  William 
Turner,  Robert  Lambert,  Mary  Goodall,  and  Mary  Newel, 
"  in  a  solemn  covenant,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
to  walk  in  fellowship  and  communion  together,  in  the  prac- 
tice of  all  the  holy  appointments  of  Christ,  which  he  had, 
or  should  further  make  known  to  them."  Goodall  came 
recommended  from  Mr.  Kiffm's  church  in  London  ;  Turner 
and  Lambert  from  Mr.  Stead's  church  in  Dartmouth,  having 
been  regular  walkers  in  the  Baptist  order  before  they  came 
to  this  country.  Gould  and  Osburne  separated  from  the 
church  in  Charlestown  ;  Drinker  and  George  had  lived  many 
years  in  this  country,  but  had  not  joined  to  any  of  their 
churches.1 

The  king's  Commissioners  being  here,  caused  the  Court 
not  to  lay  hold  of  these  people  so  soon  as  otherwise  they 
might  have  done.  But  in  August  a  note  was  entered  in  Rox- 
bury  church  records,  and  published  in  an  Almanac,  which 
has  been  communicated  to  me  in  these  words : — 

The  Anabaptists  gathered  themselves  into  a  church,  prophesied  one  by 
one,  and  some  one  among  them  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  after  he 
was  regularly  excommunicated  by  the  church  at  Charlestown  ;  they  also 
set  up  a  lecture  at  Drinker's  house  once  a  fortnight. 

As  great  noise  was  made  about  their  receiving  excommu- 
nicate members  and  officers,  it  is  proper  to  give  that  matter 
a  distinct  consideration  here.     Dr.  Mather  says : — 

Our  Anabaptists  formed  a  church  ....  not  only  with  a  manifest  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  in  the  Commonwealth,  relatiug  to  the  orderly  manner  of 
gathering  a  church,  but  also  with  a  manifold  provocation  unto  the  rest  of 
our  churches,  by  admitting  into  their  own  society  such  as  our  churches  had 
excommunicated  lor  moral  scandals,  yea.  and  employing  such  persons  to 
be  administrators  of  the  two  sacraments  among  them.2 

^heir  Church  Recordf.      RuSSell'l  Narrative,  pp.  I,  2. 

qisgnalia,  Book  VII,  p.  27,  [Vol.  II,  p.  45<».] 


[1665.]  CASE  OF  THOMAS  GOULD.  289 

They  would  thus  represent  as  though  that  church  had 
many  such  members  and  officers  ;  whereas,  in  fifteen  years, 
among  fourscore  Baptist  members,  they  have  named  but 
four  excommunicated  persons,  and  but  one  of  them  an  offi- 
cer, viz.,  Thomas  Gould,  who,  with  Thomas  Osburne,  was 
of  the  first  members ;  and  as  the  impartial  reader  would  be 
willing  to  hear  both  sides  upon  it,  I  will  give  him  their 
story  in  their  own  words. 

Mr.  Samuel  Willard  of  Boston,  who  wrote  against  this 
church,  says  of  Thomas  Gould : — 

Though  he  was  first  called  to  an  account  about  withholding  his  child 
from  baptism,  yet  that  was  not  the  reason  of  his  being  admonished,  nor  be- 
cause he  could  not  be  convinced  of  error  ;  nor  yet  did  the  church  proceed 
to  admonition,  till  such  time  as  he  (not  only  spake  contemptuously  and  irre- 
ligiously of  the  emptiness  and  nullity  of  that  ordinance,  but  also)  used  un- 
becoming gestures  in  the  time  of  administration,  of  which  (being  asked 
the  reason)  he  (before  the  congregation)  acknowledged  they  were  to  cast 
disrespect  upon  it ;  nor  then  neither  till  after  much  patience.  2.  At  his 
first  admonition  he  was  not  sententially  suspended,  but  only  desired,  for 
preventing  of  the  offence  of  some,  to  abstain  from  coming  to  the  other 
sacrament.  3.  Upon  this  Thomas  Gould  took  up  a  trade  of  absenting 
himself  from  the  meetings  of  the  church  to  worship  God.  on  the  Sabbath, 
which  made  a  new  offence.  4.  The  church  in  much  tenderness  waited  upon 
him,  and  proceeded  not  to  excommunication,  but  tried  with  admonition  upon 
admonition,  and  that  by  the  space  of  seven  or  eight  years  ;  nor  was  he  ex- 
communicated, till  (having  left  his  own)  he  joined  to  another  society,  with- 
out the  church's  leave,  or  once  asking  it ;  and  now  also  being  twice  sent 
for  by  the  church,  he  disclaimed  their  authority  over  him.  5.  Thomas 
Gould  did  not  leave  the  church  at  Charlestown  on  the  account  of  the  Ana- 
baptists' new  church  (as  is  pretended)  but  had  many  years  before  renounced 
his  submission  to  that  church.  6.  He  did  (while  under  admonition)  neglect 
public  worship,  and  gather  a  private  meeting  on  the  Sabbath  to  his  house. 
7.  He  did  wickedly  slight  the  admonition  of  the  church,  declaring  that 
they  had  by  it,  discharged  him  of  all  relation  to  them. 

For  Thomas  Osburne  ;  the  church's  proceedings  with  him  were  with  the 
like  patience  as  to  Thomas  Gould  ;  only  it  is  to  be  observed,  that  his  first 
offence  was  this  ;  whereas  it  is  one  thing  which  church  members  engage 
to  upon  admission,  to  walk  with  the  church  in  constant  attendance  upon 
public  worship,  he  (without  notifying  any  offence)  did  withdraw  and  sepa- 
rate, frequenting  those  schismatic  meetings  at  Gould's  on  the  Sabbath ; 
19 


290  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

this  was  the  offence,  nor  did  he  when  first  dealt  with  pretend  any  dislike  of 
infant  baptism,  but  that  the  church  gave  no  liberty  to  private  brethren  to 
prophesy,  that  they  Limited  the  ministry  to  learned  men,  and  that  he  did 
not  find  his  own  spirit  free  to  come  ;  though  afterwards  he  spake  both  of 
that,  and  of  their  severity  to  the  Quakers,  though  that  church  meddled  not 
with  them,  but  to  preach  against  their  errors.  In  this  practice  he  contu- 
maciously persisted  many  years,  denying  himself  to  be  subject  to  that 
church,  or  bound  to  assemble  with  them,  slighting  many  admonitions  ;  and 
afterwards  (with  Thomas  Gould)  went  off  to,  and  became  a  worthy  pillar 
of  an  Anabaptist  church.1 

This  is  the  Peedobaptist's  story  ;  Mr.  Gould  has  given  us 
his  in  the  words  following  : — 

It  having  been  a  long  time  a  scruple  to  me  about  infant  baptism,  God 
was  pleased  at  last  to  make  it  clear  to  me  by  the  rule  of  the  gospel,  that 
children  were  not  capable  nor  fit  subjects  for  such  an  ordinance,  because 
Christ  gave  this  commission  to  his  apostles,  first  to  preach  to  make  them 
disciples,  and  then  to  baptize  them,  which  infants  were  not  capable  of;  so 
that  I  durst  not  bring  forth  my  child  to  be  partaker  of  it ;  so  looking  that 
my  child  had  no  right  to  it,  which  was  in  the  year  1G55,  when  the  Lord 
wTas  pleased  to  give  me  a  child  ;  I  staid  some  space  of  time  and  said  noth- 
ing to  see  what  the  church  would  do  with  me.  On  a  third  day  of  the 
week  when  there  was  a  meeting  at  my  house,  to  keep  a  day  of  thanksgiv- 
ing to  God  for  his  mercy  shown  to  my  wife,  at  that  time  one  coming  to  the 
meeting,  brought  a  note  from  the  elders  of  the  church  to  this  effect,  that 
they  desired  me  to  come  down  on  the  morrow  to  the  elder's  house,  and  to 
send  word  again  what  time  of  that  day  I  would  come,  and  they  would  stay 
at  home  for  me  ;  and  if  I  could  not  come  that  day  to  send  them  word.  I, 
looking  on  the  writing  with  many  friends  with  me,  I  told  them  I  had  prom- 
ised to  go  another  way  on  the  morrow.  Master  Dnnstau'2  being  present 
desired  me  to  send  them  word,  that  I  could  not  come  on  the  morrow,  but 
that  I  would  come  any  other  time  that  they  would  appoint  me  ;  and  so  I 
sent  word  back  by  the  same  messeuger.  The  fifth  day,  meeting  with  older 
Green,  I  told  him  how  it  was  ;  he  told  me  it  was  well,  and  that  they  would 
appoint  another  day  when  he  had  spoken  with  the  pastor,  and  then  they 
would  send  me  word.  This  lay  about  two  months,  before  I  heard  any 
more  from  them.  On  a  First-day,  in  the  afternoon,  one  told  me  I  must 
stop,  for  the  church  would  speak  with  me.     They  called  me  out,  and  Mas- 

'Willard's  answer  to  Russell,  pp.  13,  14.  Note,  Richard  Russell,  one  of  their 
magistrates,  was  ;i  member  of  Charlestown  church;  and  did  not  he  act  aj,r;iinst  the 
Quakers  ? 

2I  suppose,  Mr.  Henry  Uunstar. 


[1665.]  CASE  OF  THOMAS  GOULD.  291 

ter  Sims  told  the  church,  that  this  brother  did  withhold  his  child  from  bap- 
tism, and  that  they  had  sent  unto  him  to  come  down  on  such  a  day  to  speak 
with  them,  and  if  he  could  not  come  on  that  day  to  set  a  day  when  he 
would  come,  and  they  be  at  home,  but  he  refusing  to  come  would 
appoint  no  time,  when  we  writ  to  him  to  take  his  own  time  and  send  us 
word. 

I  replied  that  there  was  no  such  word  in  the  letter,  for  me  to  appoint  the 
day  ;  but  what  time  that  day  I  should  come.  Mr.  Sims  stood  up  and  told  me, 
I  did  lie,  for  they  sent  to  me  to  appoint  the  day.  I  replied  again  that  there 
was  no  such  thing  in  the  letter.  He  replied  again,  that  they  did  not  set  down 
a  time,  and  not  a  day,  therefore  he  told  me  it  was  a  lie,  and  that  they  would 
leave  my  judgment  and  deal  with  me  for  a  lie  ;  and  told  the  church  that  he 
aud  the  elder  agreed  to  write,  that  if  I  could  not  come  that  day,  to  appoint 
the  time  when  I  could  come,  and  that  he  read  it,  after  the  elder  writ  it,  and 
the  elder  affirmed  it  was  so  ;  but  I  still  replied,  there  was  no  such  thing  in  the 
letter,  and  thought  that  I  could  produce  the  letter.  They  bid  me  let  them  see 
the  letter,  or  they  would  proceed  against  me  for  a  lie.  Brother  Thomas  Wil- 
der, sitting  before  me,  stood  up  and  told  them,  that  it  was  so  in  the  letter 
as  I  said,  for  he  read  it  when  it  came  to  me.  But  they  answered,  it  was 
not  so,  and  bid  him  produce  the  letter,  or  they  would  proceed  with  me.  He 
said,  I  think  I  can  produce  the  letter,  and  forthwith  took  it  out  of  his 
pocket,  which  I  wondered  at ;  and  I  desired  him  to  give  it  to  Mr.  Russell 
to  read,  and  so  he  did,  and  he  read  it  very  faithfully,  and  it  was  just  as  I 
had  said,  that  I  must  send  them  word  what  time  of  that  day  I  would  come 
down  ;  so  that  their  mouths  were  stopped,  and  Master  Sims  put  it  off,  and- 
said  he  was  mistaken,  for  he  thought  he  had  read  it  otherwise  ;  but  the 
elder  said,  This  is  nothing,  let  us  proceed  with  him  for  his  judgment.  Now 
let  any  man  judge  what  a  fair  beginning  this  was,  and  if  you  wait  a  while 
you  may  see  as  fair  an  ending.  They  called  me  forth  to  know  why  I  would 
not  bring  my  child  to  baptism.  But  before  I  speak  to  that,  observe  the 
providence  of  God  in  the  carriage  of  this  letter.  Brother  Wilder  was 
with  us  when  their  letter  came  to  my  house,  and  after  Mr.  Dunstan  [Dun- 
star]  had  read  it,  he  gave  it  to  brother  Wilder  and  he  put  it  into  his  pocket, 
and  it  lay  there  eight  or  nine  weeks,  till,  that  day  I  was  called  forth,  going 
a  good  space  from  his  house,  finding  it  too  cold  to  go  in  the  clothes  he  had 
on,  [he]  returned  again  and  put  on  another  pair  of  breeches  which  were 
warmer,  and  when  he  had  so  done,  put  his  hand  into  his  pocket  to  see  if  he 
had  any  paper  to  write  with,  and  there  found  that  letter,  and  put  it  in  again 
and  weut  to  meeting,  yet  not  knowing  what  would  be  done  that  day  concern- 
ing me.  God  had  so  appointed  it,  to  stop  their  fierce  proceedings  against 
me  for  a  lie,  which  they  sought  to  take  me  in.  Then  asking  me  why  I  did 
not  bring  my  child  to  baptism,  my  answer  was,  I  did  not  see  any  rule  of 
Christ  for  it,  for  that  ordinance  belongs  to  such  as  can  make  profession  of 


292  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

their  faith,  as  the    Scripture   doth  plainly  hold  forth They  answered 

me,  That  was  meant  of  grown  persons,  and  not  of  children  ;  but  that  which 
was  most  alleged  by  them  was,  that  children  were  capable  of  circumcision 
in  the  time  of  the  law,  and  therefore  as  capable  in  the  time  of  the  gospel  of 
baptism  ;  and  asked  me  why  children  were  not  to  be  baptized  in  the  time  of 
the  gospel,  as  well  as  children  were  circumcised  in  the  time  of  the  law  ? 
My  answer  was,  God  gave  a  strict  command  in  the  law  for  circumcision  of 
children  ;  but  we  have  no  command  in  the  gospel,  nor  example,  for  the 
baptizing  of  children.  Many  other  things  were  spoken,  then  a  meeting 
was  appointed  by  the  church  the  next  week  at  Mr.  Russell's. 

Being  met  at  Mr.  Russell's  house,  Mr.  Sims  took  a  writing  out  of  his 
pocket  wherein  he  had  drawn  up  many  arguments  for  infants'  baptism,  and 
told  the  church  that  I  must  answer  those  arguments,  which  I  suppose  he 
had  drawn  from  some  author ;  and  told  me  I  must  keep  to  those  argu- 
ments. My  answer  was,  I  thought  the  church  had  met  together  to  answer 
my  scruples,  and  to  satisfy  my  conscience  by  a  rule  of  God,  and  not  for 
me  to  answer  his  writing.  He  said  he  had  drawn  it  up  for  the  help  of  his 
memory,  and  desired  we  might  go  on.  Then  I  requested  three  things  of 
them.  1st.  That  they  should  not  make  me  offender  for  a  word.  2d.  They 
should  not  drive  me  faster  than  I  was  able  to  go.  3d.  That  if  any  present 
should  see  cause  to  clear  up  any  thing  that  is  spoken  by  me,  they  might 
have  their  liberty  without  offence  ;  because  here  are  many  of  you  that  have 
their  liberty  to  speak  against  me  if  you  see  cause.  But  it  was  denied,  and 
Mr.  Sims  was  pleased  to  reply,  that  he  was  able  to  deal  with  me  himself 
and  that  I  know  it.  So  we  spent  four  or  five  hours  speaking  to  many 
things  to  and  again  ;  but  so  hot,  both  sides,  that  we  quickly  forgot  and  weut 
from  the  arguments  that  were  written.  At  last  one  of  the  company  stood 
up  and  said,  I  will  give  you  one  plain  place  of  Scripture  where  children 
were  baptized.  I  told  him  that  would  put  an  end  to  the  controversy.  That 
place  in  the  second  of  the  Acts,  39th,  40th  verses.  After  he  had  read  the 
Scripture,  Mr.  Sims  told  me  that  promise  belonged  to  infants,  for  the 
Scripture  saith,  The  promise  is  to  you  and  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are 
afar  off ;  and  he  said  no  more,  to  which  I  replied,  Even  so  many  as  the 
Lord  our  God  shall  call.  Mr.  Sims  replied,  that  I  spoke  blasphemously  in 
aiMing  to  the  Scriptures.  I  said,  pray  do  not  condemn  me,  for  if  I  am 
deceived,  my  eyes  deceive  me.  Pie  replied  again,  I  added  to  the  Scripture, 
which  was  blasphemy.  I,  looking  into  my  Bible,  read  the  words  again,  and 
said  it  was  so.  He  replied  the  same  words  the  third  time  before  the  church. 
Mr.  Russell  stood  up  and  told  him  it  was  so  as  I  had  read  it.  Ay,  it  may 
1m-  bo  in  your  Bible,  saitli  Mr.  Sims.  Mr.  Russell  auswered,  Yea  in  yours 
too  if  you  will  look  into  it.  Then  he  said  he  was  mistaken,  for  he  thought 
on  another  place  ;  so  after  many  other  words  we  broke  up  for  that  time. 


[1665.1  CASE  OF  THOMAS  GOULD.  293 

At  another  meeting  the  church  required  me  to  bring  out  my  child  to  bap- 
tism. I  told  them  I  durst  not  do  it,  for  I  did  not  see  any  rule  for  it  iu  the 
word  of  God.  They  brought  many  places  of  Scripture  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  as  circumcision  and  the  promise  to  Abraham,  and  that 
children  were  holy,  and  they  were  disciples.  But  I  told  them  that  all  these 
places  made  nothing  for  infants'  baptism.  Then  stood  up  W.  D.  in  the 
church  and  said,  "  Put  him  in  the  Court  !  Put  him  in  the  Court  I"  But 
Mr.  Sims  answered,  I  pray  forbear  such  words  ;  but  it  proved  so,  for  pres- 
ently after,  they  put  me  in  the  Court,  and  put  me  in  seven  or  eight  Courts, 
whilst  they  looked  upon  me  to  be  a  member  of  their  church.  The  elder 
pressed  the  church  to  lay  me  under  admonition,  which  the  church  was 
backward  to  do.  Afterwards  I  went  out  at  the  sprinkling  of  children, 
which  was  a  great  trouble  to  some  honest  hearts,  and  they  told  me  of  it. 
But  I  told  them  I  could  not  stay,  for  I  look  upon  it  as  no  ordinance  of 
Christ.  They  told  me  that  now  I  had  made  known  my  judgment  I  might 
stay,  for  they  know  I  did  not  join  with  them.  So  I  stayed  and  sat  down  in 
my  seat  when  they  were  at  prayer  and  administering  that  service  to  infants. 
Then  they  dealt  with  me  for  my  uureverent  carriage.  ...  One  stood  up 
and  accused  me,  that  I  stopped  my  ears  ;  but  I  denied  it. 

At  another  meeting  they  asked  me  if  I  would  suffer  the  church  to  fetch 
my  child  and  baptize  it?  I  answered,  If  they  would  fetch  my  child  and  do 
it  as  their  own  act  they  might  do  it ;  but  when  they  should  bring  my  child, 
I  would  make  known  to  the  congregation  that  I  had  no  hand  in  it ;  then 
some  in  the  church  were  against  doing  of  it.  A  brother  stood  up  and 
said,  Brother  Gould,  you  were  once  for  children's  baptism,  why  are  you 
fallen  from  it?  I  answered,  It  is  true,  and  I  suppose  you  were  once  for 
crossing  in  baptism,  why  are  you  fallen  from  that?  The  man  was  silent. 
But  Mr.  Sims  stood  up  in  a  great  heat,  and  desired  the  church  to  take  no- 
tice of  it,  that  I  compared  the  ordinance  of  Christ  to  the  cross  in  baptism ! 
This  was  one  of  the  great  offences  they  dealt  with  me  for.  After  this  the 
Deputy  Governor1  meeting  me  in  Boston,  called  me  to  him  and  said,  Good- 
man Gould,  I  desire  you  that  you  would  let  the  church  baptize  your  child. 
I  told  him  that  if  the  church  would  do  it  upon  their  own  account  they 
should  do  it,  but  I  durst  not  bring  out  my  child.  So  he  called  to  Mrs. 
Norton  of  Charlestown,  and  prayed  her  to  fetch  Goodman  Gould's  child 
and  baptize  it.  So  she  spake  to  them,  but  not  rightly,  informing  them, 
she  gave  them  to  understand  that  I  would  bring  out  my  child.  They  called 
me  out  again  and  asked  me  if  I  would  bring  forth  my  child?  I  told  them 
No,  I  durst  not  do  it,  for  I  see  no  rule  for  it.  One  of  the  brethren  stood 
up  and  said,  If  I  would  not  let  my  child  partake  of  one  ordinance,  it  was 
meet  I  should  not  partake  of  the  other ;  so  many  of  the  church  concluded 
to  lay  me  under  admonition  ;  but  before  they  did  it  Mr.  Sims  told   me,  it 

]Mr.  Bellingham,  who  was  chief  Governor  when  Mr.  Gould  was  banished  in  1668. 


294  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

was  more  according  to  rule  for  me  to  withdraw  from  the  ordinance,  than 
for  them  to  put  me  by  ;  bringing  that  place  of  Scripture,  If  thou  bring 
thy  gift  to  the  altar,  and  there  rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath  ought 
against  thee,  leave  there  thy  offering  and  be  reconciled  first  to  thy  brother. 
But  I  told  them,  I  did  not  know  that  my  brother  had  any  thing  justly 
against  me  ;  for  they  had  not  shewn  me  any  rule  of  Christ  that  I  had  bro- 
ken, therefore  I  durst  not  withdraw  from  that  ordinance  that  I  had  found 
so  much  of  God  in  ;  but  if  they  would  put  me  by,  I  hoped  God  would  feed 
my  soul  another  way.  So  they  proceeded  to  admonition.  Elder  Green1 
said,  Brother  Gould,  you  are  to  take  notice  that  you  are  admonished  for 
three  things  ;  the  first  is,  that  you  refused  to  bring  your  child  to  be  bap- 
tized ;  the  second  is,  for  your  contentious  words,  and  unreverent  carriage 
in  the  time  of  that  ordinance  ;  the  third  is,  for  a  late  lie  you  told  ;  and 
therefore  you  are  to  take  notice,  ihat  you  are  not  to  partake  any  more  of 
the  ordinance  of  Christ  with  us,  till  you  give  satisfaction  for  these  things. 
But  when  that  late  lie  was  told  I  know  not,  except  it  was  when  the  letter 
was  found  in  brother  Wilder's  pocket.  This  admonition  was  between  seven 
and  eight  years  before  they  cast  me  O'lt.  After  this  I  went  to  Cambridge 
meeting,  which  was  as  near  to  my  house  as  the  other  ;  upon  that  they  put 
me  into  the  Court,  that  I  did  not  come  to  hear ;  but  many  satisfied  the 
Court  that  I  did  come  constantly  to  Cambridge  ;  so  they  cleared  me.  Then 
the  church  called  me  to  account  and  dealt  with  me  for  schism,  that  I  rent 
from  the  church.  I  told  them,  I  did  not  rend  from  them,  for  they  put  me 
away.  Master  Sims  was  very  earnest  for  another  admonition  for  schism, 
which  most  of  the  church  were  against ;  but  it  seems  he  set  it  down  for  an 
admonition  on  a  bit  of  paper.  This  continued  for  a  long  time  before  they 
called  me  out  again.  In  the  meantime,  I  had  some  friends  who  came  to 
me  out  of  old  England,  who  were  Baptists,  and  desired  to  meet  at  my  house 
of  a  First-day,  which  I  granted.  Of  these  was  myself,  my  wife  and 
Thomas  Osburue,  that  were  of  their  church.  Afterward  they  called  me 
forth  and  asked  why  I  kept  the  meeting  in  private  on  the  Lord's  day,  and 
did  not  come  to  the  public?  My  answer  was,  I  know  not  what  reason  the 
church  had  to  call  me  forth.  They  asked  me  if  I  was  not  a  member  of 
that  church?  I  told  them  they  had  not  acted  toward  me  as  a  member,  who 
had  put  me  by  the  ordinances  of  Christ  seven  years  ago  ;  .  . . .  they  had 
denied  me  the  privileges  of  a  member.  They  asked  whether  I  looked 
upon  admonition  as  an  appointment  of  Christ?  I  told  them,  Yes,  but  not 
to  lie  Under  it  above  seven  years,  and  to  be  put  by  the  ordinances  of  Christ 
in  the  church  ;  lor  the  rule  of  Christ  is  first  to  deal  with  men  in  the  first 
and  in  the  second  place,  and  then  in  the  third  place  before  the  church  ;  but 
the  first  time  that  ever  they  dealt  with  me,  they  called  me  before  the  whole 

'Mr.  (in  in.  ;i-   I   take   it,  was   ruling  elder;  Mr.  Zachariah  Sims,  was   teaching 
elder. 


[1665,]  CASE  OF  THOMAS  GOULD.  295 

church.  Many  meetings  we  had  about  this  thing,  whether  I  was  a  mem- 
ber or  not,  but  could  come  to  no  conclusion  ;  for  I  still  affirmed  that  their 
actings  rendered  me  no  member.  Then  Mr.  Sims  told  the  church  that  I 
was  ripe  for  excommunication,  and  [he]  was  very  earnest  for  it ;  but  the 
church  would  not  consent.  Then  I  desired  that  we  might  send  to  other 
churches  for  their  help  to  hear  the  thing  betwixt  us  ;  but  Master  Sims  made 
me  this  answer :  We  are  a  church  of  Christ  ourselves,  and  you  shall  know 
that  we  have  power  to  deal  with  you  ourselves.  Then  said  Mr.  Russell,  We 
have  not  gone  the  right  way  to  gain  this  our  brother,  for  we  have  dealt  too 
harshly  with  him.  But  still  Master  Sims  pressed  the  church  to  excommuni- 
cate me.  Mr.  Russell  said,  There  were  greater  errors  in  the  church  in  the 
apostles'  time,  and  yet  they  did  not  so  deal  with  them.  Mr.  Sims  asked  him 
what  they  were  ?  He  said,  How  say  some  of  you  that  there  is  no  resurrection 
of  the  dead  ?  Mr.  Sims  was  troubled  and  said,  I  wonder  you  will  bring 
this  place  of  Scripture  to  encourage  him  in  his  error  ?  Mr.  Sims  was  ear- 
nest for  another  admonition.  Then  stood  up  Solomon  Phips  and  said.  You 
may  clap  one  admonition  on  him  upon  another,  but  to  what  end,  for  he  was 
admonished  about  seven  years  ago  !  Mr.  Sims  said,  Brother  !  do  you  make 
such  a  light  matter  of  admonition,  to  say,  Clap  them  one  upon  another? 
Doth  not  the  apostle  say,  After  the  first  and'  second  admonition  reject  an 
heretic?  therefore  there  might  be  a  second  admonition.  It  was  answered, 
it  was  a  hard  matter  to  prove  a  man  an  heretic,  for  every  error  doth  not 
make  a  man  a  heretic.  Mr.  Sims  said,  It  was  not  seven  years  ago,  nor 
above  three,  since  I  was  admonished,  and  that  was  for  schism.  A  brother 
replied  and  said,  it  was  seven  years  since  I  was  admonished.  On  that 
there  was  some  difference  in  the  church  what  I  was  admonished  for.  Mr. 
Sims  then  pulled  a  bit  of  paper  out  of  his  pocket  and  said,  This  is  that  he 
was  admonished  for,  and  that  was  but  three  years  since.  Brother  Phips 
asked  him  when  that  paper  was  writ,  for  he  never  heard  of  that  admoni- 
tion before?  He  answered,  he  set  it  down  for  his  own  memory  ;  then  he 
read  it,  that  it  was  tor  schism,  and  rending  from  the  church.  I  told  him 
I  did  not  rend  from  the  church,  but  the  church  put  me  away  from  them, 
and  that  was  four  years  before  this.  Then  there  was  much  agitation  when 
the  admonition  was  given,  and  what  it  was  for?  And  this  was  all  the 
church  records  that  could  be  found,  which  was  about  seven  years  after  the 
admonition  was  given  ;  so  after  many  words  we  broke  up,  which  was  the 
last  time  we  met  together.  Now  let  any  man  judge  of  the  church  records 
that  were  drawn  up  against  me,  and  read  at  the  dispute  in  Boston,  which 
contained  three  or  four  sheets  of  paper  ;  read  by  Mr.  Shepard,1  and  drawn 
up  by  him,  a  little  while  before  the  dispute,  who  was  not  an  eye  nor  ear 
witness  to  the  church's  actings  not  above  half  the  time. 

^on  to  Mr.  Thomas  Shepard,  formerly  of  Cambridge. 


296  HISTORY  OF   THE  BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

Now  after  this,  considering  with  myself  what  the  Lord  would  have  me 
to  do  ;  not  likely  to  join  with  any  of  the  churches  of  New  Euglaud  any 
more,  and  so  to  be  without  the  ordinances  of  Christ  ;  in  the  mean  time  God 
sent  out  of  Old  England  some  who  were  Baptists  ;  we,  consulting  together 
what  to  do,  sought  the  Lord  to  direct  us,  and  taking  counsel  of  other 
friends  who  dwelt  among  us,  who  were  able  aud  godly,  they  gave  us  coun- 
sel to  congregate  ourselves  together ;  and  so  we  did,  being  nine  of  us,  to 
walk  in  the  order  of  the  gospel  according  to  the  rule  of  Christ,  yet  know- 
ing that  it  was  a  breach  of  the  law  of  this  country  ;  that  we, had  not  the 
approbation  of  magistrates  and  ministers,  for  that  we  suffered  the  penalty 
of  that  law,  when  we  were  called  before  them.  After  we  had  been  called 
into  one  or  two  courts,  the  church  understanding  that  we  were  gathered  into 
church  order,  they  sent  three  messengers  from  the  church  to  me,  telling 
me  the  church  required  me  to  come  before  them  the  next  Lord's  day.  I 
replied,  The  church  had  nothing  to  do  with  me,  for  they  had  put  me  from 
them  eight  years  before.  They  replied,  that  they  had  nothing  to  do  with 
that,  but  were  sent  by  the  church  to  tell  me  it  was  the  mind  of  the  church 
to  speak  with  me.  I  told  them  I  was  joined  to  another  church,  and  that 
church  was  not  willing  I  should  come  to  them,  they  having  nothing  to  do 
with  me,  therefore  I  would  not  come  without  the  church's  consent. 
Then  they  departed.  The  next  week  they  sent  three  messengers  more,  who 
came  to  my  house  and  told  me  that  the  church  had  sent  them  to  require  me 
to  come  to  the  church  the  next  Lord's  day  after.  I  told  them  that  the 
church  had  nothing  to  do  to  require  me  to  come,  who  had  put  me  from 
them  eight  years,  and  the  church  I  now  walked  with  would  not  let  me 
come.  They  told  me  again  that  if  I  did  not  come,  the  church  would  pro- 
ceed against  me  the  next  Lord's  day.  I  told  them  that  I  could  not  come 
for  we  were  to  break  bread  the  next  Lord's  day.  They  told  me  they  would 
return  my  answer  to  the  church.  One  of  them  asked  if  I  would  come  the 
next  Lord's  day  after?  But  another  presently  said,  We  have  no  such  order 
from  the  church  ;  so  they  departed.  The  last  day  of  that  week  three  lov- 
ing friends  coming  to  me  of  their  own  account,  one  of  them  was  pleased  to 
say  to  me,  Brother  Gould,  though  you  look  upon  it  as  unjust  for  them  to 
cast  you  out,  yet  there  be  many  that  are  godly  among  them,  that  will  act 
with  them  through  ignorance,  which  will  be  a  sin  of  them,  and  you  are 
persuaded,  I  believe,  that  it  is  your  duty  to  prevent  any  one  from  any  sinful 
act ;  for  they  will  cast  you  out  for  not  hearing  the  church  ;  now  your  com- 
ing will  stoj)  them  from  acting  agaiust  you,  and  so  keep  many  from  that 
sin.  Upon  these  words  I  was  clearly  convinced  that  it  was  my  duty  to  go, 
and  replied,  Although  I  could  not  come  the  next  day,  yet  I  promised  them 
that  if  I  was  alive  and  well,  I  would  come  the  next  Lord's  day  if  the  Lord 
permit.  lie  replied,  Whal  if  the  church  I  was  joined  to  was  not  willing? 
I  told  him  I  did  not  question  that  any  one  would   be   against  it   upon   this 


[1665.]  GOULD  AND  OTHERS  ARRESTED.  297 

ground.  After  I  had  propounded  it  to  the  church,  not  one  was  against  it.  I 
entreated  these  friends  to  make  it  known  to  the  elders  that  I  would  come 
to  them  the  next  Lord's  day  after  ;  yet,  though  they  knew  of  it,  they  pro- 
ceeded against  me  that  day,  and  delivered  me  up  to  Satau  for  not  hearing 
the  church. 

This  narrative  I  met  with  among  Mr.  Callender's  papers, 
and  I  have  good  reason  to  think  it  genuine,  and  that  the 
manuscript  now  in  my  hands  was  written  above  a  hundred 
years  ago ;  which  I  have  copied  that  the  public  may  be  better 
.able  to  judge  of  what  those  excommunications  were.  It 
appears  by  Mr.  Willard  that  the  first  charge  they  had 
against  Mr.  Osburne,  was  his  going  to  meeting  with  that 
schismatical  Gould ;  therefore,  as  the  reader  judges  of  the 
one,  so  likely  he  will  of  the  other.  Only  it  ought  to  be 
noted,  that  neither  of  them  were  excommunicated  persons, 
when  they  formed  that  Baptist  church,  but  had  that  sentence 
pronounced  upon  them  afterwards,  for  refusing  to  return  to 
those  who  had  treated  them  so  ill.  And  before  that  act, 
viz.,  on  August  20,  1665,  Richard  Russell,  Esq.,  issued  a 
warrant  to  the  constable  of  Charlestowm  the  original  whereof 
is  now  before  me,  requiring  him  in  his  Majesty's  name,  to 
labor  to  discover  where  these  people  were  assembled,  and  to 
require  them  to  attend  the  established  worship,  which  if  they 
refused,  he  was  to  return  their  names  and  places  of  abode 
to  the  next  magistrate.  In  consequence  whereof  they  were 
brought  before  the  Court  of  Assistants  in  September;  to 
whom  they  exhibited  a  confession  of  their  faith,  which  is 
copied  into  their  records.  The  only  article  of  which  that  I 
find  objected  against  is  in  these  words,  viz. :  "  Christ's  commis- 
sion to  his  disciples  is  to  teach  and  baptize,  and  those  who 
gladly  receive  the  word  and  are  baptized,  are  saints  by  call- 
ing, and  fit  matter  for  a  visible  church."  This  was  com- 
plained of  as  excluding  all  from  a  visible  saintship  but  bap- 
tized persons,  which  we  shall  hereafter  see  they  had  no 
thought  of.  But  their  grand  crime  lay  in  not  obeying  the 
ruling  party  in  their  religious  affairs. 


298  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  Court  of  Assistants  charged  them  to  desist  from  what 
they  called  their  schismatical  practice  ;  and  because  they 
would  not,  the  General  Court  that  met  October  11,  con- 
vented  Gould,  Turner,  Osburne,  Drinker  and  George  before 
them,  to  whom  these  Baptists  exhibited  the  same  confession 
as  they  had  to  the  Court  of  Assistants,  which  was  closed 
with  saying,  "  If  any  take  this  to  be  heresy,  then  do  we, 
with  the  apostle,  confess,  that  after  the  way  which  they  call 
heresy,  we  worship  God  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  believing  all  things  that  are  written  in  the  law  and 
the  prophets  and  apostles."  This  the  Court  called  a  :'  con- 
temning the  authority  and  laws  here  established,  for  the 
maintenance  of  godliness  and  honesty,  as  well  as  continuing 
in  the  profanation  of  God's  holy  ordinances  ;"  and  said : — 

This  Court  taking  the  premises  into  their  serious  consideration,  do  judge 
meet  to  declare,  that  the  said  Gould  and  company,  are  no  orderly  church 
assembly,  and  that  they  stand  justly  convicted  of  high  presumption  against 
the  Lord  and  his  holy  appointments,  as  also  the  peace  of  this  government, 
against  which  this  Court  doth  account  themselves  bound  to  God,  [to]  his 
truth  and  his  churches  here  planted,  to  bear  their  testimony,  and  do  there- 
fore sentence  the  said  Thomas  Gould,  William  Turner,  Thomas  Osburne, 
Edward  Drinker  and  John  George,  such  of  them  as  are  freemen,  to  be 
disfranchised,  and  all  of  them,  upon  conviction  before  any  one  magistrate 
or  Court,  of  their  further  proceedings  herein,  to  be  committed  to  prison 
until  the  General  Court  shall  take  further  order  with  them.  Zechariah 
Rhodes  being  in  Court  when  they  were  proceeding  against  Thomas  Gould 
and  company,  and  sayiug  in  Court,  u  The  Court  has  not  to  do  in  [with] 
matters  of  religion  ;"  he  was  committed  likewise.  Being  sent  for  he  ac- 
knowledged his  fault,  declaring  he  was  sorry  he  had  given  them  offence. 
The  Court  judged  meet  to  discharge  him,  the  Governor  giving  him  an 
admonition  for  his  said  offence.1 

Can  any  man  believe  that  these  were  measures  to  promote 
either  godliness  or  honesty,  in  Rhodes,  or  in  any  one  else? 
rather  did  not  the  Court  take  Jehovah's  name  in  vain  in  this 

'Massachusetts  Records.  Rhodes  was  a  Baptist,  but  had  been  of  Arnold's  party  at 
Pawtuxet.     Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  277. — B. 

The  Massachusetts  Records  as  published  give  only  the  surnames  of  the  offenders 
and  arrange  them  in  the  following  order,  viz.:  Gould,  Osburne,  Drinker,  Turner 
and  George. — Ed. 


[1666.]  GOULD  AND  OTHERS  FINED.  299 

act?  The  forementioned  excuse,  made  by  Dr.  Mather,  for 
this  severity,  viz.,  their  joining  in  church  fellowship  without 
the  approbation  of  other  ministers  and  their  rulers,1  says 
Mr.  Neal,  "  condemns  all  the  dissenting  congregations  that 
have  been  gathered  in  England,  since  the  act  of  uniformity 

in  the  year  1662 Let  the  reader  judge,  who  had  most 

reason  to  cemplain  ;  the  New  England  churches,  who  would 
neither  suffer  the  Baptists  to  live  quietly  in  their  communion 
nor  separate  peaceably  from  it ;  or  these  unhappy  persons 
who  were  treated  so  unkindly  for  following  the  light  of  their 
consciences."2  Yet  because  they  still  followed  that  light, 
they  were  presented  to  the  County  Court  at  Cambridge, 
April  IT,  1666,  "  for  absenting  themselves  from  the  public 
worship."  And  when  they  asserted  that  they  did  steadily 
attend  such  worship,3  the  foregoing  act  of  the  Assembly  was 
produced  to  prove  that  it  was  not  in  a  lawful  way  ;  and 
Gould,  Osburne  and  George,  were  each  of  them  fined  four 
pounds  therefor,  and  ordered  to  bind  themselves  in  a  bond 
of  twenty  pounds  apiece,  for  their  appearance  at  the  next 
Court  of  Assistants;  and  refusing  so  to  do  were  committed 
to  prison.4  When  the  Court  of  Assistants  came,  they  gave 
sentence  that  they  should  pay  their  fines  and  Court  charges ; 
and  when  the  Assembly  sat  on  September  11,  they  ordered, 

^ee  page  288.— Ed. 

2Neal's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I,  pp.  304,  305. 

3i'Thomas  Osburne  answered  that  the  reason  of  his  non-attendance  was  that  the 
Lord  hath  discovered  unto  him  from  his  word  and  spirit  of  truth  that  the  society 
wherewith  he  is  now  in  communion  is  more  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  asserted 
that  they  were  a  church  and  attended  the  worship  of  God  together,  and  do  judge 
themselves  bound  so  to  do,  the  ground  whereof  he  said  he  gave  in  to  the  General 
Court.  Thomas  Gould  answered  that  as  for  coming  to  public  worship,  they  did 
meet  in  public  worship  according  to  the  rule  of  Christ,  the  grounds  whereof  they 
had  given  to  the  Court  of  Assistants,  asserted  that  they  were  a  public  meeting 
according  to  the  order  of  Christ  Jesus,  gathered  together.  John  George  answered 
that  he  did  attend  the  public  meetings  on  the  Lord's  days  where  he  was  a  member, 
asserted  that  they  were  a  church  according  to  the  order  of  Christ  in  the  gospel,  and 
with  them  he  walked  and  held  communion  in  the  public  worship  of  God  on  the  Lord's 
days.  Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  [Hutchinson's  Collection  of  Original 
Papers,]  p.  400.— Ed. 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  400,  401. 


300  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

that  if  they  would  pay  the  same,  they  should  be  set  at  lib- 
erty ;  but  added  that,  "  the  order  of  Court  of  October,  1665, 
referring  to  the  said  schismatical  assembly,  shall  be,  and 
hereby  is  declared  to  stand  in  full  force."1  Thus  they  wont 
on  from  time  to  time,  till  the  Court  of  Assistants  at  Boston, 
March  3,  who  adjourned  to  May  1,  1668,  passed  the  follow- 
ing act,  a  copy  of  which  I  find  among  their  church  papers, 
exactly  in  these  words,  viz.  : — 

Thomas  Gould,  plaintiff,  ou  appeal  from  the  judgment  of  the  last  County 
Court  at  Charlestown.  After  the  Court's  judgment,  reasons  of  appeal  and 
evidences  in  the  case  produced  were  read,  committed  to  the  jury,  and  re- 
main on  files  with  the  records  of  this  Court.  The  jury  brought  in  their 
verdict ;  they  found  for  the  plaintiff,  reversion  of  the  former  judgment.  The 
Court  not  accepting  this  verdict,  commended  it  to  the  jury's  further  consid- 
eration, and  sent  them  out  again.  And  at  the  adjournment,  on  the  further 
consideration,  they  brought  in  a  special  verdict,  i.  e.,  If  the  intent  of  this 
law,  that  the  appellent  is  accused  of  the  breach  of,  be  that  the  presentment 
of  the  Grand  Jury,  without  their  certain  knowledge,  or  other  evidence,  or 
the  person  so  complained  of  is  legally  convicted  of  the  breach  of  the  law, 
thereby  he  not  making  it  appear  he  had  done  his  duty  ,  then  they  con- 
firmed the  judgment  of  the  former  Court  at  Charlestown,  but  if  otherwise 
they  acquit  the  appellant.  The  Court,  on  a  due  consideration  of  this  special 
verdict,  do  confirm  the  judgment  of  the  County  Court  at  Charlestown. 
This  judgment  was  declared,  and  on  the  plaintiff' 's  refusal  to  pay  the  fine 
imposed,  [he]  was  committed  to  prison. 

On  the  7th  of  this  March,  they  also  said  : — 

The  Governor  and  Council,  accounting  themselves  bound  by  the  law  of 
God,  and  of  this  Commonwealth,  to  protect  the  churches  of  Christ  here 
planted,  from  the  iutrusiou  thereby  made  upon  their  peace  in  the  ways  of 
godliness,  yet  being  willing  by  all  Christian  candor  to  endeavor  the  reduc- 
ing of  the  said  persons  from  the  error  of  their  way,  and  their  return  to  the 
Lord  and  the  communion  of  his  people  from  whence,  they  are  fallen,  do 
judge  meet  to  grant  unto  Thomas  Gould,  John  Farnum,  Thomas  Osburne 
and  company,  yet  further  an  opportunity  of  a  full  and  free  debate,  of  their 
grounds  for  their  practice  ;  and  for  that  end  this  court  doth  nominate  and 
request  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Allen,  Mr.  Thomas  Cobbet,  Mr.  John  Iliggin- 
son,  Mr.  Samuel  Dani'orth,  Mr.  Jonathan  Mitchel,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Shep- 
ard,    to  assemble  with  the  Governor  and  magistrates,  upon  the  1  1th  day  of 

'Massachusetts  Records. 


[1668.]  PUBLIC  DISPUTATION  PROPOSED.  301 

the  next  month,  in  the  meeting-house  at  Boston,  at  nine  in  the  morning; 
before  whom,  or  so  many  of  them,  with  any  other  the  Reverend  elders  or 
ministers,  as  shall  then  assemble,  the  above-said  persons  and  their  com- 
pany shall  have  liberty,  freely  and  fully,  in  open  assembly,  to  present  their 
grounds  as  above-said,  in  an  orderly  debate  of  this  following  question  : — 
Whether  it  be  justifiable  by  the  word  of  God,  for  these  persons  and  their 
company  to  depart  from  the  communion  of  these  churches,  and  to  set  up 
an  assembly  here  iu  the  way  of  Anabaptism,  and  whether  such  a  practice 
is  to  be  allowed  by  the  government  of  this  jurisdiction  ?  To  Thomas 
Gould  : — You  are  hereby  required  in  his  Majesty's  name,  according  to  the 
order  of  the  Council  above-written,  to  give  notice  thereof  to  John  Far- 
num,  senior,  Thomas  Osburne,  and  the  company,  and  you  and  they  are 
alike  required  to  give  your  attendance,  at  the  time  and  place  above-men- 
tioned, for  the  end  therein  expressed. 

Edward  Rawson,  Secretary.1 

Mr.  Clarke's  church  in  Newport,  hearing  of  this  appoint- 
ment, sent  to  the  assistance  of  their  brethren,  Mr.  William 
His  cox,  Mr.  Joseph  Tory,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard,  who 
arrived  at  Boston,  three  days  before  the  dispute.  The  author 
of  Mr.  Mitchel's  life  says  : — 

When  the  churches  were  troubled  by  a  strong  attempt  upon  them  from 
the  spirit  of  anabaptism,  there  was  a  public  disputation  appointed  at  Bos- 
ton, two  days  together,  for  the  clearing  of  the  faith  in  that  article  ;  this 
worthy  man  was  he,  who  did  most  service  in  this  disputation  ;  whereof  the 
effect  was,  that  although  the  erring  brethren,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  made 
this  their  last  answer  to  the  arguments,  which  had  cast  them  into  much 
confusion,  Say  vihat  you  will,  we  will  hold  our  minds!  yet  others  were 
happily  established  in  the  right  ways  of  the  Lord. 

How  well  this  corresponds  with  the  preceding  pages, 
the  reader  may  judge.  For  therein  we  are  informed,  that 
Mr.  Mitchel  was  fearful  of  going  to  a  learned  gentleman 
who  had  renounced  infant  baptism  ;  and  that  he  resolved 
that  he  would  have  an  argument  able  to  remove  a  mountain, 
before  he  would  recede  from  that  principle.2  And  a  look 
back  to  our  page  185,  will  show  what  fear  the  ruling  party 
had,  of  disputing  upon  their  way  with  another  learned  Bap- 

^opied  from  the  warrant  now  before  me  in  Mr.  Rawson's  hand  writing. 
2His  Life,  pp.  69,  70,  72.    [Magnalia,  Vol.  II,  pp.  79,  80.]    The  dispute  was  held 
both  the  14th  and  15th  of  April. 


302  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tist ;  but  the  whole  power  of  the  country  now  adventured 
to  enter  the  lists  with  a  few  honest  mechanics. 

When  the   Assembly   met  at  Boston  in   May  following, 
they  proceeded  to  the  next  argument  and  said : — 

Whereas,  the  Council  assembled  in  March  last,  did,  for  their  further  con- 
viction, appoint  a  meeting  of  divers  elders,  and  required  the  said  persons 
to  attend  the  said  meeting,  which  was  held  [here]  in  Boston  with  a  great 
concourse  of  people,  ....  this  court,  being  sensible  of  their  duty  to  God 
and  the  country,  and  being  desirous  that  their  proceedings  in  this  great 
cause  might  be  clear  and  regular,  do  order  that  the  said  Gould  and  com- 
pany be  required  to  appear  before  this  Court,  on  the  seventh  instant,  at. 
eight  in  the  morning,  that  the  Court  may  understand  from  themselves, 
whether  upon  the  means  used,  or  other  considerations,  they  have  altered 
their  former  declared  resolution,  and  are  willing  to  desist  from  their  for- 
mer offensive  practice,  that  accordingly  a  meet   [and]   effectual   remedy 

may  be  applied  to  so  dangerous  a  malady At  the   time  they,  Thomas 

Gould,  William  Turner  and  John  Farnum,  being  summoned,  made  their 
appearance,  and  after  the  Court  had  heard  what  they  had  to  say  for  them- 
selves, proceeded.  Whereas,  Thomas  Gould,  Williain  Turner,  and  John 
Farnum,  senior,  obstinate  and  turbulent  Anabaptists,  have  some  time 
since  combined  themselves  with  others  in  a  pretended  church  estate,  with- 
out the  knowledge  and  [or]  approbation  of  the  authority  here  established 
to  the  great  grief  and  offence  of  the  godly  orthodox  ;.  . .  .the  said  persons 
did  in  open  Court,  assert  their  former  practice  to  have  been  according  to 
the  mind  of  God,  and  that  nothing  that  they  had  heard  convinced  them 
to  the  contrary  ;  which  practice,  being  also  otherwise  circumstanced  with 
making  infant  baptism  a  nullity,  and  thereby  making  us  all  to  be  unbap- 
tized  persons,  and  so  consequently  no  regular  churches,  ministry,  or  ordi- 
nances ;  as  also  renouncing  all  our  churches,  as  being  so  bad  and  corrnpt 
that  they  are  not  fit  to  be  held  communion  with  ;  denying  to  submit  to  the 
government  of  Christ  in  the  church,  and  entertaining  of  those  who  are 
under  church  censure,  thereby  making  the  discipline  of  Christ  [in  his 
churches]  to  be  of  none  effect,  and  manifestly  tending  to  the  disturbance 
and  destruction  of  these  churches, — opening  the  [a]  door  for  all  sorts  of 
abominations  to  come  in  among  us,  to  the  disturbance  not  only  of  [our] 
ecclesiastical  enjoyments,  but  also  contempt  of  our  civil  order,  and  the 
authority  here  established,  ....  which  [our]  duty  to  God  and  the  country 
doth  oblige  us  to  prevent,  by  using  the  most  compassionate  effectual  means 
to  attain  the  same  ;  all  of  which  considering,  together  with  the  danger  of 
disseminating  their  errors,  and  encouraging  presumptuous  irregularities  by 
their  example,   should    they   continue   in   this  jurisdiction  ;  this   Court  do 


[1668.]  GOULD  AND  OTHERS  BANISHED.  303 

judge  it  necessary  that  they  be  removed  to  some  other  part  of  this  country, 
or  elsewhere,  and  accordingly  doth  order,  that  the  said  Thomas  Gould,  Wil- 
liam Turner,  and  John  Farnum,  senior,  do  before,  the  20th  of  July  next, 
remove  themselves  out  of  this  jurisdiction,  and  that  if  after  the  said  20th 
of  July  [the  said  Thomas  Gould,  William  Turner,  and  John  Farnum, 
senior,  or]  either  of  them  be  found  in  any  part  of  this  jurisdiction,  with- 
out license,  [first]  had  [and  obtained]  from  this  Court  or  the  Council,  he 
or  they  shall  be  forthwith  apprehended  and  committed  to  prison  by  war- 
rant from  any  magistrate,  and  there  remain  without  bail  or  mainprise, 
until  he  or  they  shall  give  sufficient  security  to  the  Governor  or  any  magis- 
trate, immediately  to  depart  the  jurisdiction,  and  not  to  return  as  above 
said.  And  all  constables  and  other  officers,  are  required  to  be  faithful  and 
diligent  in  the  execution  of  this  sentence.  And  it  is  further  ordered,  that 
the  keepers  of  all  prisons  whereto  the  said  Thomas  Gould,  William  Tur- 
ner and  John  Farnum,  senior,  or  any  of  them  shall  be  committed,  shall 
not  permit  any  resort  of  companies  of  more  than  two  at  one  time  to 
any  of  the  said  persons.  And  our  experience  of  their  high,  obstinate  and 
presumptuous  carriage,  doth  engage  us  to  prohibit  them  any  further  meet- 
ing together,  on  the  Lord's  day,  or  [upon  any]  other  days,  upon  pretence  of 
their  church  estate,  or  for  the  administration  or  exercise  of  any  pretended 
ecclesiastical  functions,  or  dispensation  of  the  seals  or  preaching ;  wherein 
if  they  shall  be  taken  offending,  they  shall  be  imprisoned  until  the  tenth  of 
July  next,  and  then  left  at  their  liberty  within  ten  days  to  depart  the  juris- 
diction upon  penalty  as  aforesaid.  And,  whereas,  Thomas  Gould  is  com- 
mitted to  prison  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  by  the  last  Court  of  Assist- 
ants, for  non-payment  of  a  fine  imposed,  this  Court  [having  passed  a  cen- 
sure on  him  and  others]  judgeth  it  meet,  after  the  sentence  of  this  Court  is 
published  this  day  after  the  lecture  to  them,  that  the  said  Gould  shall  be 
[declared  to  be]  discharged  from  imprisonment  in  Middlesex  as  to  his  fine, 
that  so  he  may  have  time  to  prepare  to  [and]  submit  to  the  judgment  of 
this  Court.1 

This  looked  like  a  powerful  way  of  arguing ;  but  the 
Baptists  were  not  convinced  by  it,  either  of  its  being  duty 
to  return  into  fellowship  with  those  who  managed  the  argu- 
ment, or  to  quit  their  stations  and  enjoyments  at  their  com- 
mand. I  find  by  the  colony  records,  that  John  Farnum  was 
admitted  a  freeman  of  that  colony  May  13,  1640  ;  Thomas 
Gould,  June  2,  1741 ;  in  which  year  John  George  bound 
himself  to  Governor  Winthrop,   I  suppose,  to  pay  for  his 

Massachusetts  Records. 


304  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

passage  over  to  this  country.  And  I  have  a  copy  before  me 
of  a  warrant  for  the  commitment  of  Turner  and  Farnum  to 
Boston  jail,  dated  July  30,  this  year,  signed  by  Governor 
Bellingham,  Eleazer  Lusher  and  Edward  Tyng.  When  the 
Assembly  met  again  in  the  fall,  a  petition  was  presented  to 
them,  whereof  a  copy  found  among  their  church  papers,  is 
before  me,  in  these  words  : — 

Whereas  by  the  ceusure  of  this  honorable  Court,  Thomas  Gould,  Wil- 
liam Turner  and  John  Farnum,  now  lie  in  prison  deprived  of  their  liberty, 
taken  off  from  their  callings,  separated  from  their  wives  and  children,  dis- 
abled to  govern  or  to  provide  for  their  families,  to  their  great  damage  and 
hastening  ruin,  how  innocent  soever  ;  beside  the  hazard  of  their  own  lives, 
being  aged  and  weakly  men,  and  needing  that  succor  a  prison  will  not 
afford  ;  the  sense  of  this,  their  personal  and  family  most  deplorable  and 
afflicted  condition,  hath  sadly  affected  the  hearts  of  many  sober  and  serious 
Christians,  and  such  as  neither  approve  of  their  judgment  or  practice  ;  es- 
pecially considering  that  the  men  are  reputed  godly,  and  of  a  blameless  con- 
versation ;  and  the  things  for  which  they  seem  to  suffer  seem  not  to  be 
moral,  unquestioned,  scandalous  evils,  but  matters  of  religion  and  con- 
science ;  not  in  things  fundamental,  plain  and  clear,  but  circumstantial, 
more  dark  and  doubtful,  wherein  the  saints  are  wont  to  differ,  and  to  for- 
bear one  another  in  love,  that  they  be  not  exposed  to  sin,  or  to  suffer  for 
conscience  sake.  We  therefore  most  humbly  beseech  this  honored  Court, 
in  their  Christian  mercy  and  bowels  of  compassion,  to  pity  and  relieve 
these  poor  prisoners  ;  whose  sufferings  (also  being  doubtful  to  many,  and 
some  of  great  worth  among  ourselves,  and  grievous  to  sundry  of  God's 
people  at  home  and  abroad,)  may  crave  a  further  consideration,  whereby 
perceiving  this  Court  not  likely  to  effect  the  end  desired,  but  rather  to 
grieve  the  hearts  of  God's  people  ;  now  your  wisdoms  may  be  pleased  to 
think  of  some  better  expedient,  and  seriously  consider  whether  an  indul- 
gence, justifiable  by  the  word  of  God,  pleaded  for  and  practiced  by  Con- 
gregational churches,  may  not,  in  this  day  of  suffering  to  the  people  of  God, 
be  more  effectual,  safe  and  inoffensive  than  other  ways,  which  are  always 
grievous,  and  seldom  find  success.  We  in  all  humility  hope,  hereby  occa- 
sions of  difference  being  removed,  that  love  and  communion  among  all 
saints,  which  our  dying  Lord  so  weightily  charged  and  earnestly  prayed 
for,  will  more  easily  be  preserved  and  practiced,  to  the  glory  of  God,  honor 
of  the  gospel,  peace  and  welfare  of  all  the  churches,  which  this  houored 
Court  being  the  happy  instruments  of  effecting,  will  oblige  your  poor  peti- 
tioners, as  in  duty  bound,  to  pray  for  your  happiness  both  in  this  life  aud 
in  that  to  come,  and  that  your  authority  may  be  long  continued  as  an  un- 
paralleled blessing  to  this  Commonwealth. 


[1668.]  •  DEFENCE  OF  GOULD,  OSBURNE,  &c.  305 

We  are  informed  that  Captain  Edward  Hutchinson,  Cap- 
tain Oliver,  and  many  others,  signed  this  petition ;  but  the 
Court  were  so  far  from  granting  it,  that  the  chief  promoters 
of  it  were  fined,  and  others  compelled  to  an  acknowledgment 
of  their  fault  in  reflectirg  upon  the  Court  herein.  We  are 
also  told,  that  the  Honorable  Francis  Willoughby,  who  was 
their  Deputy  Governor  from  1665,  till  he  died  on  April  4, 
1671,  "  was  a  great  opposer  of  these  persecutions  against 
the  Baptists."1  Leverett  and  Symonds,  his  successors  in  that 
office,  appear  also  to  have  been  on  that  side  of  the  question. 
The  ruling  party  printed  their  sentence  against  those  Bap- 
tists, an  answer  to  which  I  find  among  their  church  papers, 
which *is  closed  with  these  words  : — 

This  my  husband  would  entreat  of  you,  to  take  counsel  of  Master 
Bennet,  and  if  he  and  you  judge  it  meet,  to  send  it  to  England,  and  the 
printed  sentence  with  it.  It  is  desired  that  no  man  see  it  but  Goodman 
Sweetser,  and  that  Josiah  write  it  fair  and  plain. 

I  conclude  the  person  here  speaking  is  Elder  Gould's  wife  ; 
and  the  most  material  points  of  her  answer  are  as  follows  : — 

First,  They  call  them  obstinate  and  turbulent  Anabaptists.  1.  I  desire 
to  know  wherein  their  obstinacy  doth  appear  ?  They  desired  the  Court  to 
show  them,  from  the  rule  of  Christ,  of  any  point  that  they  were  out  of  the 
way  of  God ;  and  if  the  Lord  was  pleased  to  show  them  wherein  they 
were  out,  they  would  freely  lay  it  down  ;  but  they  shewed  them  no  other 
rule  than  their  own  law  ;  and  sentenced  them  to  be  fined  and  imprisoned ; 
and  this  was  all  the  rule  they  could  give,  which  did  not  convince  them.  2. 
They  say  they  were  turbulent.  I  desire  them  to  prove  wherein  they  were 
turbulent,  when  they  did  not  disturb  neither  churches  nor  courts,  neither  by 
word  nor  by  action  ,  but  desired  to  live  quietly  and  peaceably  among  them, 
and  they  cannot  tell  of  any  one  thing  that  they  disturbed  them  in,  but 
desired  they  might  enjoy  that  liberty  that  Christ  hath  purchased  for  them. 
They  know  not  that  they  spoke  any  word  that  gave  offence  to  the  Court, 
unless  it  was  those  few  words,  when  Master  Bradstreet  pronounced  that 
sentence  against  them,  and  charged  them  no  more  to  meet  together, 
whether  on  the  Lord's  day  or  on  the  week  days,  in  their  conventicles  ;  those 
words  were  returned  by  them,  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  man  ; 
we  cannot  but  do  the  things  we  have  heard  and  learned.     3.  As    for  Ana- 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  II,  pp.  227,  269,  [236,246.] 
20 


306  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

baptists,  they  do  not  own  that  name,  except  they  will  be  pleased  to  explain 
what  they  mean  by  it  ;  for  they  own  them  to  be  of  the  baptized.  Again, 
they  say,  they  combined  together  in  a  pretended  church  estate.  They  need 
not  have  said  so,  unless  they  could  have  proved  they  set  up  their  church 
contrary  to  a  rule  of  Christ.  Beside,  they  gave  them  in  a  writing  wherein 
they  gave  a  brief  account  of  their  faith,  where  they  declared  what  they 
owned  to  be  a  church  of  Christ,  and  the  order  of  it  accordiug  to  the  rule  of 
the  Scripture,  which  neither  the  Court  nor  the  elders  ever  answered  to  this 
day.  They  say  it  was  without  the  knowledge  or  approbation  of  the  author- 
ity here  established  as  the  law  required.  Answer  : — 1.  If  the  apostles  had 
not  set  up  churches  in  their  time,  without  the  approbation  of  the  authority 
and  their  priests,  there  had  been  few  or  no  churches  in  their  time.  2.  Christ 
is  Lord  and  King  of  his  church,  and  he  will  set  up  his  government  therein, 
and  hath  given  them  rules  from  himself,  how  to  set  it  up  and  to  carry  it 
along  according  to  his  appointment,  and  not  to  ask  leave  of  the  powers  of 
the  world  to  set  up  his  church  ;  for  Christ's  jurisdiction  is  the  •  greatest 
jurisdiction  in  the  world.  3.  They  had  asked  leave,  had  they  found  a  com- 
mand of  Christ  for  it,  but  finding  no  rule  of  Christ  they  did  not  do  it. 

Again,  they  say  some  of  themselves  were  excommunicated  persons. 
First,  it  is  true  what  they  say,  yet  that  some  was  but  two  that  were  cast 
out,  and  that  after  they  were  gathered  into  this  pretended  church,  as  they 
call  it,  a  good  space  of  time.  But  consider  for  what  it  was,  ami  how  it 
was? 

Here  the  foregoing  account  of  Messrs.  Gould  and  Osburne 
is  confirmed.  And  of  the  day  they  were  cast  out  she 
6ays  : — 

The  word  was  carried  to  the  elder,  that  if  they  were  alive  and  well  they 
would  come  the  next  day,  yet  they  were  so  hot  upon  it  that  they  would  not 
stay,  but  Master  Sims  when  he  was  laying  out  the  sins  of  these  men, 
before  he  had  propounded  it  to  the  church,  to  kuow  their  mind,  the  church 
having  no  liberty  to  speak,  he  wound  it  up  in  his  discourse,  and  delivered 
them  up  to  Satan,  to  the  amazement  of  the  people,  that  ever  such  an  ordi- 
nance of  Christ  should  be  so  abused,  that  many  of  the  people  went  out ; 
and  these  were  the  excommunicated  persons.  They  say,  After  long  for- 
bearance to  use  the  utmost  means  to  convince  and  reduce  them,  entreated  the 
1  assistance  of  divert  elders.  Auswer  : — 1.  It  is  true  there  were  seven  elders 
appointed  to  discourse  with  them,  and  there  were  a  few  plowmen  and  tai- 
lors to  come  before  them  ;  but  how  they  were  served  with  a  warrant  to 
appear  before  these  elders  in  his  Majesty's  name  !  2.  When  they  were 
met,  there  was  a  long  speech  made  by  one  of  them,  of  what  vile  persons 
they  were,  and  how  they  acted  agaiust  the  churches  and  government  here, 


[1668.]  DEFENCE  OF  GOULD,  OSBURNE,  &c.  307 

and  stood  condemned  by  the  Court.  The  others  desiring  liberty  to  speak, 
they  would  not  suffer  them,  but  told  them  they  stood  there  as  delinquents, 
and  ought  not  to  have  liberty  to  speak.  Then  they  desired  they  might 
choose  a  moderator  as  well  as  they  ;  they  denied  them.  Two  days  were 
spent  to  little  purpose.. ....  In  the  close,  Master  Jonathan  Mitchel  pro- 
nounced that  dreadful  sentence  against  them  in  Deut.  xvii.  8  to  the  end  of 
the  12th,  and  this  was  the  way  they  took  to  convince   them,  and  you    may 

see  what  a  good  effect  it  had There   was  nothing  spoken  from  the 

rule  of  Christ,  neither  from  the  Court  nor  the  elders,  but  such  sentences  as 
these,  fining,  and  whipping,  and  prisoning,  and  banishing,  and  Master 
Mitchel's  sentence,  and  all  these  are  not  the  weapons  of  Christ,  but  carnal 
weapons  that  never  d'd  convince  any  soul  of  the  error  of  his  ways. 

Whereas,  they  say,  Which  practice  making  infant  baptism  a  nullity,  &c.  ; 
I  answer,  It  is  good  for  every  one  to  be  sure  that  they  are  upon  good  ground 

whatsoever  the  practice  of  others  may  seem  to   condemn They  say, 

Tending  to  the  disturbance  and  destruction  of  these  churches.  For  Answer, 
1.  If  eight  or  nine  poor  Anabaptists,  as  they  call  them,  should  be  the  de- 
struction of  their  churches,  then  let  any  seeing*  man  judge  what  their 
churches  are  built  upon  ;  then  we  may  think  they  are  built  upon  a  sandy 
foundation  ;  for  the  church  of  Christ  is  built  upon  himself,  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  2.  If  they  be  the  churches  of  Christ, 
and  think  they  shall  be  overthrown  by  them,  it  is  from  the  weakness  of 
their  faith,  looking  more  to  an  arm  of  flesh  and  powers  of  the  world  to 
uphold  them,  than  to  Christ  and  his  faithful  promise.  3.  If  they  fear  they 
will  be  the  destruction  of  their  churches,  now  [that]  all  the  power  of  the 
country  is  for  them  and  [they]  have  an  arm  of  flesh  to  help  them,  what 
will  they  do  when  all  the  powers  of  the  country  are  against  them,  as  are 
against  the  other,  as  you  say  yourselves  of  them,  that  when  they  were  in 
examination  before  the  Court,  they  professed  themselves  resolved  to  adhere 
to  the  same  practice  ;  and  now  suffer  willingly  for  it.  But  for  the  men, 
what  they  are,  I  shall  say  nothing,  for  the  sixty-five  hands  to  the  petition 
that  was  put  into  the  General  Court,  does  [do]  plainly  declare  to  their  best 
discerning,  that  they  have  been  honest  and  godly,  and  lived  quietly  and 
peaceably  among  them  a  good  length  of  time.  Again  they  say,  By  using 
the  most  compassionate  and  effectual  means  to  attain  the  same.  Answer  : — 1. 
The  Lord  keep  every  gracious  soul  from  such  compassionate  means  for  the 
truth  of  the  gospel !  2.  For  wThat  compassionate  means  were  used  with 
them,  let  men  fearing  God  judge  ;  for  one  of  them  was  called  from  prison 
wThen  this  sentence  of  banishment  wras  read  against  them  ;  and  if  any  man 
desires  to  inform  himself  wherein  their  compassion  appears,  let  him  read 
their  printed  sentence  against  them,  which  was  executed  upon  them ;  for, 
not  moving  themselves,  they  sent  the  constable,  and  fetched  them  away  to 
prison  on  a  public  lecture  day  at  Boston,  when  the  said  Thomas  Gould, 


308  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

William  Turner   and  John  Farnum,  had  been  all   there,  and  newly  come 
home  to  their  houses,  and  they  remain  in  prison  to  this  day. 

How  any  that  feared  God,  could  be  ensnared  and  held  in 
such  a  way  of  treating  their  fellow-servants  may  doubtless 
appear  unaccountable  to  many  ;  but  a  careful  search  will 
help  us  to  discover  the  nature  of  this  mystery.  The  estab- 
lishment of  a  Christian  commonwealth,  was  the  grand  ob- 
ject that  had  been  before  those  leaders  for  forty  years,  and 
it  continued  so  to  their  last  hours.  Mr.  Wilson,  the  first 
minister  of  Boston,  had  been  famed  for  a  gift  of  prophecy, 
or  foretelling  future  events  ;  and  as  his  dissolution  appear- 
ed near,  a  large  number  of  ministers  came  round  him  on 
May  16,  1667,  and  desired  him  to  declare  unto  them,  what 
he  conceived  to  be  the  sins  among  them  that  caused  the 
displeasure  of  God  against  the  country.  He  told  them  he 
had  long  feared  the  following  sins  as  chief  among  others, 
which  greatly  provoked  God,  viz.  : — 

1.  Separation.  2.  Anabaptism.  3.  Corahism.  [The  latter  he  did 
explain  thus  :]  when  people  rise  up  {is  Corah,  against  their  ministers  or 
elders,  as  if  they  took  too  mucn"  upon  them,  when  indeed  they  do  but  rule 
for  Christ,  and  according  to  Christ ;  yet  (said  he)  it  is  nothing  for  a  brother 
to  stand  up  and  oppose,  without  Scripture  or  reason,  the  doctrine  and  word 
of  the  elder,  saying  I  am  not  satisfied,  &c,  aud  hence,  if  he  do  not  like 
the  administration,  be  it  baptism  or  the  like,  he  will  [then]  turn  his  back 
upon  God  aud  his  ordinances,  and  go  away.  And  [saith  he]  for  our  neg- 
lect of  baptizing  the  children  of  the  church,  those  that  some  call  grand- 
children, I  think  God  is  provoked  by  it.  4.  Another  sin  I  take  to  be  the 
making  light  of,  [and]  not  subjecting  to  the  authority  of  synods  without 
which,  the  churches  cannot  long  subsist.  And  so  for  the  magistrates  being 
Gallio-like,  either  not  caring  for  these  things,  or  else  not  using  their  power 
and  authority  for  the  maintenance  of  the  truth,  [and]  gospel  and  ordinan- 
ces of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  for  bearing  thorough  wit- 
ness agaiust  the  contrary.  Should  the  Lord  leave  them  hereunto  how 
miserable  a  people  should  we  be  ! 

And  at  night  he  blessed  them  upon  their  parting,  with 
great  affection,  and  with  tears,  "  and  all  the  ministers  wept 
with  him,  and  took  their  leave  of  him,  even  as  children  of 
their  father,  who  having  blessed  them  was   about  to   die." 


[1668.]  SCHISM  IN  BOSTON  CHURCH.  309 

He  died  the  7th  of  August  following.1  These  things  affect- 
ed their  minds  in  such  a  manner,  that  upon  his  church's 
obtaining  Mr.  Devenport  from  New  Haven  to  succeed  him, 
who  had  printed  his  testimony  against  the  result  of  the  late 
synod  about  the  Half-way  Covenant,  a  minor  part  of  the 
church  drew  off  from  the  rest,  and  in  May,  1669,  other  minis- 
ters assisted  in  forming  them  into  a  new  church,  in  open 
separation  from  the  first  church  in  Boston,  which  schism 
continued  about  fourteen  years,  till  an  Episcopal  invader 
of  their  rights  drove  them  together  again.2  Hence  see  what 
a  schismatical  doctrine  that  is,  of  infant  church  membership, 
and  of  using  secular  force  in  religious  affairs.  What  divis- 
ions and  contentions  did  it  produce  both  in  Connecticut  and 

Norton,  pp.  195,  196.  [211,  212.] 

2Magnalia,  B.  5.,  pp.  82,  83.  [Vol.  II,  pp.  266,  267.]  "  There  was  a  great  differ- 
ence betwixt  the  old  church  and  the  members  of  the  new  church,  about  baptism, 
and  their  members  joining  in  full  communion  with  either  church.  This  was  so  high 
that  there  was  imprisoning  of  parties,  and  great  disturbances  ;  but  now  hearing  of  my 
proposals  for  ministers  to  be  sent  over,  they  are  joined  together,  about  a  fortnight 
a<>o,  and  pray  to  God  to  confound  the  devices  of  all  who  disturb  their  peace  and 
liberties."  Randolph's  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Eondon,  May  9,  1682.  Massachu- 
setts History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp,  531,  532.  That  new  church  is  since  called  The  Old 
South.— B. 

The  passage  in  the  Magnalia  above  referred  to,  is  as  follows  : — "That  famous  and 
faithful  society  of  Christians,  the  first  church  in  Boston,  had,  after  much  agitation,  so 
far  begun  to  attend  the  discipline  directed  in  the  doctrine  of  the  synod  that  they  pro- 
ceeded ecclesiastically  to  censure  the  adult  children  of  several  communicants  for 
scandals,  whereinto  they  had  fallen.  But  that  church,  for  a  supply  of  their  vacancy 
upon  the  death  of  their  former  more  synodical  ministers,  applying  themselves  unto 
Mr.  John  Devenport,  the  greatest  of  the  antisynodists,  all  the  interests  of  the  synod 
came  to  be  laid  aside,  therein,  on  that  occasion.  Hereupon  thirty  members  of  that 
eminent  church  offered  several  reasons  of  their  dssent  from  their  call  of  that  worthy 

person The  difference  produced  so   much  division  that   the  major  part   of 

the  church,  by  far,  proceeded  to  their  election  of  that  great  man  ;  this  lesser  part 
nevertheless  carefully  and  exactly  following  the  advice  of  councils  fetched  from 
other  churches  in  the  neighborhood,  set  up  another  church  in  the  town  of  Boston, 
which  hath  since  been  one  of  the  most  considerable  in  the  country.  Very  uncom- 
fortable were  the  paroxisms  which  were  the  consequents  of  this  ferment.  Longa 
est  injuria,  longa  ambages. .  ..Indeed,  for  a  considerable  while,  though  the  good 
men  on  both  sides  really  loved,  respected  and  honored  one  another,  yet,  through 
some  unhappy  misunderstandings  in  particular  persons,  the  communicants  of  these 
two  particular  churches  in  Boston,  like  the  two  distinguished  rivers,  not  mixing, 
thougli  running  between  the  same  banks,  held  not  communion  with  one  another  at 
the  table  of  the  Lord."— Ed. 


310  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS    IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Massachusetts?  Is  it  not  evident  that  they  proceeded  from 
a  confounding  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  churches  to- 
gether ?  for  a  right  to  membership  and  to  office,  in  the 
former,  proceeded  in  a  natural,  in  the  latter,  in  a  spiritual 
line.  The  gainsaying  of  Korah  was  after  an  infallible  au- 
thority had  fixed  the  priesthood  in  the  line  of  Aaron  and 
his  seed,  who  were  types  of  Christ  and  his  saints,  but  officers 
in  distinction  from  the  rest  of  the  lively  stones  whereof  his 
house  is  built,  are  never  called  priests  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  yea,  we.  have  seen  ministers  resenting  others  calling 
of  them  by  that  name,  and  yet  they  in  the  above  instance  and 
down  to  this  day,  have  applied  the  case  of  Korah  to  those 
who  refuse  practically  to  own  them  as  such.  And  they  have 
often  told  us  of  David's  error,  in  carrying  the  ark  upon  a 
new  cart,  instead  of  the  priests'  shoulders  ;  but  that  error  is 
theirs,  not  ours  ;  and  had  they  been  as  ready  to  imitate 
David  in  reformation  as  they  were  in  transgression  what 
happy  times  might  we  have  seen  before  now  ?  The  oracles 
of  God  were  then  carried  in  the  ark,  but  now  his  church  is 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth.  I  Timothy  3.  15  ;  I 
Peter  2.  5.  Upon  Uzza's  being  struck  dead,  David  was 
turned  to  search  the  divine  rules,  which  taught  him  to  rest 
the  cause  of  truth  upon  living  shoulders,  instead  of  an 
earthly  machine  drawn  by  beastly  force.  I  Chron.  15.  2. 
But  when  the  rulers  of  the  Massachusetts  were  moved  by 
their  ministers  to  exert  such  force  against  the  Baptists, 
though  they  saw  the  chief  procurers  of  that  sentence  struck 
dead  before  the  time  came  for  its  execution,  and  many  more 
of  them  about  that  time,  yet  their  posterity  have  approved 
their  sayings  even  to  this  day.1     I  am  well  sensible  that  the 

'Mr.  Henry  Flint  of  Hraintree,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Shepard  of  Kowley,    died   about 

the  time  of  their  dispute  with  the  Baptist!  in  Boston.    Mr.  Mitchel,  who  was  most 

active  in  procuring  the  sentence  against  them,  died  July  !),  aged  4.'5,  and  Mr.  John 
Eliot,  junior,  October  L8,  1668,  aged  85,  both  of  Cambridge.    Mr.  John  Reynerof 

Dover,  and  Mr.  Richard  Mather  of  Dorche.-ter,  both  died  in  April,  and  Kleazer 
Mather  of  Northampton,  on  July  24,  1GT»!»,  aged  32.  Mr.  Sims,  who  had  treated 
the  Baptists  SO  ill,  and  Mr.  John  Allen  of  Dedham,  one  of  the  disputants  against 
them,  both  died  within  two  years  after,  as  well  as  many  others. 


[1669. J  ROBERT  MASCALL'S  LETTER.  311 

divine  judgments  are  a  great  deep,  and  that  love  or  hatred 
is  not  to  be  known  merely  by  such  outward  events  ;  yet 
they  ought  to  put  us  all  upon  searching  and  trying  our  ways 
(as  David  did)  by  the  revealed  will  of  God  ;  which  duty  was 
excellently  inculcated  upon  them  at  that  time  in  a  letter  to 
Captain  Oliver  of  Boston,  in  the  words  following : — 

My  Dear  Brother  :  The  ardent  affection  and  great  honors  that  I  have 
for  New  England  transport  me,  and  I  hope  your  churches  shall  ever  be  to 
me  as  the  gates  of  heaven.  I  have  ever  been  warmed  with  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  grace  of  God  towards  me  in  carrying  me  thither.  I  have  always 
thought  that  of  the  Congregational  churches  of  New  England  in  our  days. 
But  now  it  is  otherwise,  with  joy  as  to  ourselves  and  grief  as  to  you  be  it 
spoken.  Now  the  greater  my  love  is  to  New  Englaud  the  more  am  I 
grieved  at  their  failings.  It  is  frequently  said  here,  that  they  are  swerved 
aside  towards  presbytery  ;  if  so,  the  Lord  restore  them  all.  But  another 
sad  thing  that  much  affects  us  is,  to  hear  that  you  even  in  New  England 
persecute  your  brethren  ;  men  sound  in  the  faith  ;  of  holy  life  [and]  agree- 
ing in  worship  and  discipline  with  you  ;  only  differing  in  the  point  of  bap- 
tism. Dear  brother,  we  here  do  love  and  honor  them,  hold  familiarity 
with  them,  and  take  sweet  council  together  ;  they  lie  in  the  bosom  of  Christ 
and  therefore  they  ought  to  be  laid  in  our  bosoms.  In  a  word,  we  freely 
admit  them  into  churches  ;  few  of  our  churches  but  many  of  our  members 
are  Anabaptists  ;  I  mean  baptized  again.  This  is  love,  in  England  ;  this 
is  moderation  ;  this  is  a  right  New  Testament  spirit.  But  do  you  now  (as 
is  abovesaid)  bear  with,  yea,  more  than  bear  with,  the  Presbyterians?  yea, 
and  that  the  worst  sort  of  them,  viz.,  those  who  are  the  corruptest,  rigedest ; 
whose  principles  tend  to  corrupt  the  churches  ;  [so]  turning  the  world  into 
the  church,  and  the  church  into  the  world  ;  and  which  doth  no  less  than 
bring  a  people  under  mere  slavery.  It  is  an  iron  yoke  which  neither  we 
nor  our  Congregational  brethren  in  Scotland  were  ever  able  to  bear.  I 
have  heard  them  utter  these  words  in  the  pulpit,  that  it  is  no  wrong  to 
make  the  Independents  sell  all  they  have,  and  depart  the  land  ;  and  many 
more  things  I  might  mention  of  that  kind  ;  but  this  I  hint  only,  to  shew 
what  cause  there  is  to  withstand  that  wicked  tyranny  which  was  once  set 
up  in  poor  miserable  Scotland,  which  I  verily  believe  was  a  great  wrong 
and  injury  to  the  reformation.  The  generality  of  them  here,  even  to  this  day 
will  not  freely  consent  to  our  enjoyment  of  our  liberty  ;  though,  through 
mercy,  the  best  and  most  reformed  of  them  do  otherwise.  How  much 
more  therefore  would  it  concern  dear  New  England  to  turn  the  edge  against 
[those]  who,  if  not  prevented,  will  certainly  corrupt  and  enslave,  not  only 
their  own,   but  also  your  churches?     Whereas   Anabaptists  arc  neither 


312  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

spirited  nor  principled  to  injure  nor  hurt  your  government  nor  your  liber- 
ties ;  but  rather  these  be  a  means  to  preserve  your  churches  from  apostacy, 
and  provoke  them  to  their  primitive  purity,  as  they  were  in  the  first  plant- 
ing, in  and  admission  of  members  to  receive  none  into  your  churches  but 
visible  mints,  and  in  restoring  the  entire  jurisdiction  of  every  congregation 
complete  and  undisturbed.  We  are  hearty  and  full  for  our  Presbyterian 
brethren's  eujoying  equal  liberty  with  ourselves  ;  oh  that  they  had  the  same 
spirit  towards  us  !  but  oh  how  it  grieves  and  affects  us  that  New  England 
should  persecute  !  will  you  not  give  what  you  take?  is  liberty  of  conscience 
your  due  ?  and  is  it  not  as  due  unto  others  that  are  sound  in  the  faith  ? 
Read  the  preface  to  the  declaration  of  the  faith  and  order,  owned  and 
practiced  in  the  Congregational  churches  in  England,  pp.  6,  7.  Amongst 
many  other  Scriptures,  that  in  the  14th  of  Romans  much  confirms  me  in 
liberty  of  conscience  thus  stated  :  To  him  that  esteems  any  thing  unclean, 
to  him  it  is  unclean  ;  verse  13.  Therefore  though  we  approve  of  the  bap- 
tism of  the  immediate  children  of  church  members,  and  [of]  their  admis- 
sion into  the  church  when  they  evidence  a  real  work  of  grace  ;  yet  to 
[those]  that  in  conscience  believe  the  said  baptism  to  be  unclean,  it  is  un- 
clean. Both  that  and  mere  ruling  elders,  though  we  approve  of  them,  yet 
our  grounds  are  mere  interpretations  of,  and  not  any  express  Scripture.  I 
cannot  say  so  clearly  of  any  thing  else  in  our  religion,  neither  as  to  faith 
or  practice.  Now  must  we  force  our  interpretation,  upon  others,  Pope-like? 
In  verse  5  of  that  chapter  the  Spirit  of  God  saith,  Let  every  one  be  fully 
persuaded  in  his  own  mind  ;  therefore  this  being  the  express  will  of  God, 
who  shall  make  a  contrary  law,  and  say,  Persuaded  or  not  persuaded,  you 
shall  do  as  we  say,  and  as  we  do  !  and  verse  23,  What  is  not  of  faith  is  sin  ; 
therefore  there  must  be  a  word  for  what  we  do,  and  we  must  see  and 
believe  it,  or  else  we  sin  if  we  do  it.  And  Deut.  12,  and  last,  as  we  must 
not  add,  nor  may  we  diminish  ;  what  is  commauded  we  must  do.  Also 
28th  of  Matthew.  And  what  principles  is  persecution  grounded  upon? 
Domination  and  infallibility.  This  we  teach  is  the  truth.  But  are  we 
infallible,  and  have  we  the  government?  God  made  none,  no  not  the 
apostles  who  could  not  err,  to  be  lords  over  [of  our]  faith  ;  therefore  what 
monstrous  pride  is  this?  At  this  rate  any  persuasion  getting  uppermost 
may  command,  and  persecute  them  that  obey  them  not  ;  all  non-conformists 
must  be  ill-used.  Oh  wicked  and  monstrous  principle  !  Whatever  you  can 
plead  for  yourselves  against  those  that  persecute  you,  those  whom  you  per- 
secute may  plead  lor  themselves  against  you.  Whatever  you  can  say 
against  those  poor  men,  your  enemies  sayagaiust  you.  And  what  !  is  that 
horrid  principle  crept  into  precious  New  England,  who  have  felt  what  per- 
secution is,  and  have  always  pleaded  for  liberty  of  conscience  :  Have  not 
those  run  equal  hazards  with  you  for  the  enjoyment  of  their  liberties  ;  and 
how  do  you  cast  a  reproach  upon  us,  that  are  Congregational  in   England, 


[1669.]  KOBERT  MASCALL'S  LETTER.  313 

and  furnish  our  adversaries  with  weapons  against  us?  We  blush  and  are 
filled  with  shame  and  confusion  of  face  when  we  hear  of  these  things. 
Dear  brother,  we  pray  that  God  would  open  your  eyes  and  persuade  the 
hearts  of  your  magistrates,  that  they  may  no  more  smite  their  fellow  ser- 
vants, nor  thus  greatly  injure  us  their  brethren  ;  and  that  they  may  not 
thus  dishonor  the  name  of  God,  and  cause  his  people  to  be  reproached,  nor 
the  holy  way  of  God  (the  Congregational  way)  to  be  evil  spoken  of.  My 
dear  brother  !  pardon  my  plainness  and  freedom,  for  the  zeal  of  God's 
house  constrains  me.  What  cause  have  we  to  bless  God  who  gives  us  to 
find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  his  Majesty,  and  to  pray  God  to  continue  him, 
and  to  requite  it  graciously  to  him  in  spiritual  blessings.  Well,  strive  I 
beseech  you  with  God  by  prayers,  and  use  all  lawful  ways  and  means,  even 
to  your  greatest  hazard,  that  those  poor  men  may  be  set  free.  For  be 
assured,  this  liberty  of  conscience,  as  we  state  it,  is  the  cause  of  God  ;  and 
hereby  you  may  be  a  means  to  divert  the  judgments  of  God  from  falling  upon 
dear  New  England,  for  our  Father  in  faithfulness  will  afflict  us  if  we  repent 
not.  Doth  not  the  very  gospel  say,  What  measure  we  mete  to  others  shall 
be  measured  to  us?  God  is  not  unrighteous.  What  is  more  provoking  to 
him  than  the  persecuting  of  his  saints?  Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do 
my  prophets  no  harm  !  Did  he  not  reprove  kings  for  their  sake?  those  who 
have  the  unction  the  apostle  John  speaks  of,  and  the  spirit  and  gift  of  pro- 
phecies. With  what  marvellous  strength  did  holy  Mr.  Burroughs  urge  that 
place  against  persecution?  Persecution  is  bad  in  wicked  men,  but  it  is 
most  abominable  in  good  men,  who  have  suffered  and  pleaded  for  liberty  of 
conscience  themselves.  Discountenance  men  that  certainly  err,  but  perse- 
cute them  not.  I  mean  gross  errors.  Well,  we  are  travelling  to  our  place 
of  rest ;  with  joy  we  look  for  new  heavens  and  new  earth.  We  shall  ere 
long  be  in  the  fullness  of  bliss,  holy,  harmless  in  the  bosom  of  Christ.  Let 
us  pray  the  earth  may  be  filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  that  they 
may  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  his  holy  mountain.  The  Lord  grant  we 
may  by  the  next  hear  better  things  of  the  government  of  New  England. 
My  most  hearty  love  to  [you  and]  your  brother,  and  to  all  our  brethren. 
My  respects  and  my  service  to  my  dear  cousin  Leverett,  and  to  Mr.  Francis 
Willoughby.  The  Lord  make  them  instrumental  for  his  glory,  in  helping 
to  reform  things  among  you.  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  from  you.  I  remem- 
ber our  good  old  sweet  communion  together.  My  dear  brother,  once  again 
pardon  me,  for  I  am  affected  !  I  speak  for  God,  to  whose  grace  I  commit 
you  all  in  New  England  ;  humbly  craving  your  prayers  for  us  here,  and 
remain, 

Your  [most]  affectionate  brother, 

Robert  Mascall. 
Finsbury,  near  Morefield,  the  25th  of  March,  1669.1 

'Samuel  Hubbard's  collection. 


314  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Never  did  I  see  the  true  nature  of  these  controversies 
better  stated  by  any  on  that  side.  Our  opponents  have  no 
better  grounds  for  accusing  us  of  denying  Scripture  conse- 
quences, than  because  we  refuse  to  yield  to  their  interpreta- 
tions, which  appear  to  us  unsound.  Neither  are  we  any 
more  rigid  than  themselves  ;  though  because  they  hold  to 
two  or  three  ways  of  baptizing,  while  we  believe  our  Lord 
has  instituted  but  one  baptism,  they  accuse  us  with  it,  if  we 
cannot  act  with  them  as  baptized  persons,  who  appear  to  us 
not  to  be  such.  The  plain  question  is,  Whether  eacli  one 
shall  be  allowed  to  act  the  full  persuasion  of  his  own  mind, 
according  to  God's  law,  or  whether  the  ruling  party  in  the 
State  shall  make  the  law  void  by  their  traditions  ?  The 
learned  and  much  esteemed  Dr.  Goodwin,  Dr.  Owen,  Mr. 
Nye,  Mr.  Caryl,  and  nine  other  noted  dissenting  ministers  in 
London  wrote  to  the  Massachusetts  Governor,  upon  these 
things  at  the  same  time,  and  said : — 

We  shall  not  here  undertake  [in  the  least]  to  make  any  apology  for  the 
persons,  opinions  and  practices  of  those  who  are  censured  among  you. 
You  know  our  judgment  and  practice  to  be  contrary  unto  theirs,  even  as 
yours  ;  wherein  (God  assisting)  we  shall  continue  to  the  end.  Neither 
shall  we  return  any  answer  to  the  reason  of  the  reverend  elders,  for  the 
justification  of  your  proceedings,  as  not  being  willing  to  engage  in  the  man- 
agement of  any  the  least  difference  with  persons  whom  we  so  much  love  and 
honor  in  the  Lord.  But  the  sum  of  all  which  at  present  we  shall  offer  to 
you  is,  that  though  the  Court  might  apprehend,  that  they  had  grounds,  in 
general,  warranting  their  procedure  (in  such  cases)  in  the  way  wherein 
they  have  proceeded  ;  yet  that  they  have  any  rule  of  command  rendering 
their  so  proceeding  indispensably  necessary,  under  all  circumstances  of  lines 
[times?]  and  places,  we  are  altogether  unsatisfied  ;  and  we  need  not  represent 
unto  you  how  the  case  stands  with  ourselves,  and  all  your  brethren  and 
Companions  in  the  services  of  these  latter  days  in  these  nations.  We  are 
Sure  you  would  be  unwilling  to  put  an  advantage  into  the  hands  of  some, 
who  feel  pretences,  aud  occasions  against  our  liberty,  and  to  reinforce  the 
former  rigor.  Now  we  cannot  deny  but  this  hath  already  in  some  measure 
been  done,  in  that  it  hath  been  vogued,  that  persons  of  your  [our]  way, 
principles  and  spirit,  cannot  bear  with  dissenters  from  them.  And  as  this 
greatly  reflects  on  us,  so  some  of  OS  have  observed  how  already  it  has 
turned  unto  your    own   disadvantage.     We   leave   it    to   your   wisdom   to 


[1669.]  LETTER  FROM  MINISTERS  IN  ENGLAND.  315 

determine,  whether  under  all  these  circumstances,  and  sundry  others  of  the 
like  nature  that  might  be  added,  it  be  not  advisable  at  present  to  put  an 
end  unto  the  sufferings  and  confinements  of  the  persons  censured,  and  to 
restore  them  to  their  former  liberty.1  You  have  the  advantage  of  truth 
and  order  ;  you  have  the  gifts  and  learning  of  an  able  ministry  to  manage 
and  defend  them ;  you  have  the  care  and  vigilancy  of  a  very  worthy 
magistracy  to  countenance  and  protect  them,  and  to  preserve  the  peace  ; 
and  above  all,  you  have  a  blessed  Lord  and  Master,  who  hath  the  keys  of 
David,  who  openeth  and  no  man  shutteth,  living  forever  to  take  care  of 
his  own  concernments  among  his  saints  ;  and  assuredly  you  need  not  be 
disquieted,  though  some  few  persons  (through  their  own  iufirmity  aad  weak- 
ness, or  through  their  ignorance,  darkness  and  prejudices)  should  to  their 
disadvantage  turn  out  of  the  way,  in  some  lesser  matters,  into  by-paths  of 
their  own.  We  only  make  it  our  hearty  request  to  you,  that  you  would 
trust  God  with  his  truths  and  ways  so  far,  as  to  suspend  all  vigorous  pro- 
ceedings in  corporal  restraints  or  punishments,  on  persons  that  dissent  from 
you,  and  practice  the  principles  of  their  dissent  without  danger  or  distur- 
bance to  the  civil  peace  of  the  place. 
Dated  March  25,  1669. 

We  may  reasonably  conclude  that  this  address  did  not 
reach  Boston  till  May  or  June ;  and  Dr.  Mather  says,  "  I 
cannot  say  that  this  excellent  letter  had  immediately  all  the 
effect  it  should  have  had."2  So  that  though  he  allows  that 
some  of  those  Baptists  were  "  truly  godly  men,"3  yet  it  is 
likely  that  they  were  imprisoned  a  year  or  more,  only  for 
not  banishing  themselves  for  their  religion.  After  their  re- 
lease, Elder  Gould  went  and  lived  upon  an  island  in  the 
harbor  ;  where  they  held  their  meeting  for  some  years.  But 
this  could  not  make  the  ruling  party  easy,  as  the  following 

1  "  At  a  Court  of  Assistants  held  at  Boston,  March  2,  1669,  the  Governor  and 
Magistrates  being  assembled  in  Council,  and  motion  being  made  by  Thomas  Gould, 
in  behalf  of  himself  and  William  Turner,  now  in  durance  by  the  sentence  of  the 
General  Court;  the  keepers  of  the  prisons,  under  whose  custody  they  now  are,  are 
ordered  to  permit  them  liherty  for  three  days,  to  visit  their  families,  as  also  to  apply 
themselves  to  any  that  are  able  and  orthodox,  for  their  further  convincement  of  their 
many  irregularities  in  those  practices  for  which  they  were  sentenced ;  the  said  keep- 
er staking  the  engagements  of  the  said  Gould  and  Turner,  or  other  sufficient  caution, 
for  their  return  again  to  prison  at  the  end  of  the  said  three  days. 

By  the  council,  Edward  Rawson,  Secretary.'* 

2Magnalia,  B.  7,  pp.  27,  28.   [Vol.  II,  pp.  460,  461.] 

3Ibid.  [Vol.  II,  p.  459.] 


316  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

letter  to  Mr.   Clarke   and  his   church  at  Newport   plaioly 
shews : — 

Beloved  Brethren  and  Sisters  : — I  most  heartily  salute  you  all  in 
our  dear  Lord,  who  is  our  alone  Savior  in  all  our  troubles,  that  we  his 
poor  members  are  exercised  with  for  his  name's  sake.  And  blessed  be 
God  our  Father,  that  has  given  us  such  a  High  Priest,  that  was  touched 
with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  which  is  no  small  comfort  to  the  souls 
of  his  poor  suffering  ones  ;  the  which,  through  grace,  the  Lord  hath  been 
pleased  to  make  us  in  some  [small]  measure  partakers  of.  And  at  this 
present  our  dear  brother  William  Turner,  a  prisoner  for  the  Lord's  cause 
in  Boston,  has  some  good  experience  of,  both  of  that  which  Paul  desired, 
to  be  comformable  to  our  Lord  in  his  sufferings,  and  also  of  the  promises 
of  our  Lord,  in  the  giving  forth  [of]  the  comfort  of  his  Spirit,  to  uphold  us 
all,  for  that  he  is  sensible  of  the  sufferings  of  his  poor  members,  and  is 
ready  to  give  forth  supplies  as  are  most  suitable  to  such  a  condition  as  he 
calls  his  to.  Friends,  I  suppose  you  have  heard  that  both  he  and  brother 
Gould  were  to  be  taken  up  ;  but  only  brother  Turner  is  yet  taken  and  has 
been  about  a  month  in  prison.  Warrants  are  in  two  marshals'  hands  for 
brother  Gould  also,  but  he  is  not  yet  taken,  because  he  lives  on  Noddle's 
Island,  and  they  only  wait  to  take  him  at  town  [but  he  comes  not  over.] 
The  cause  why  they  are  put  in  prison  is  the  old  sentence  of  the  General 
Court  in  '68,  because  they  would  not  remove  themselves.  There  were 
six  magistrates'  hands  to  the  warrant  to  take  them  up,  viz.,  Mr.  Brad- 
etreet,  Major  Denisou,  Thomas  Danforth,  Captain  Gookin,  Major  Willard 
and  Mr.  Pinchon.  But  all  the  deputies  of  the  Court  voted  their  liberty, 
except  one  or  two  at  most,  but  the  magistrates  carry  against  all ;  and 
because  some  others  of  the  magistrates  were  absent,  and  some  that  were 
there  were  Gallio-like,  as  one  Mr.  R.  B.  G.1  But  blessed  be  the  Lord  who 
takes  notice  of  what  is  done  to  his  poor  servants,  though  men  little  regard. 
The  town  and  country  is  very  much  troubled  at  our  troubles  ;  and  especial- 
ly the  old  church  in  Boston,  and  their  elders,  both  Mr.  Oxonbridge  and  Mr. 
Allen  have  labored  abundantly,  I  think   as   if  it   had    been   for  their  best 

*I  suppose,  Richard  Bellingham,  Governor.  Thus  a  few  men  at  the  head  of  the 
government,  by  the  clergy's  help,  carried  on  their  oppressions  against  the  minds  of 
those  worthy  rulers,  Willoughby,  Symonds  and  Leverett,  a  whole  House  of  Depu- 
ties, and  the  best  part  of  the  whole  community.  "That  magistrates  should  thus 
SuflVr  these  incendiaries,  and  disturbers  of  the  public  peace,  might  justly  be  won- 
dered  at,  if  it  did  not  appear  that  they  have  been  invited  by  them  unto  a  participa- 
tion of  the  spoil,  and  have  therefore  thought  fit  to  make  use  of  their  covetousness 
and  pride,  as  a  means  whereby  to  increase  their  own  power.  For  who  does  not  see 
that  these  good  men  are  indeed  more  ministers  of  the  government,  than  ministers  of 
the  gospel.     Locke  on  Toleration,  pp.  71,  72. 


[1670.]  EDWARD  DRINKER'S  LETTER.  317 

friends  in  the  world.1  Many  more  gentlemen  and  solid  Christians  are  for 
our  brother's  deliverance  ;  but  it  cannot  be  had  ;  a  very  great  trouble  [is 
it]  to  the  town  ;  and  they  had  gotten  six  magistrates'  hands  for  his  deliver- 
ance, but  could  not  get  the  Governor's  hand  to  it Some  say  one  end  is, 

that  they  may  prevent  others  coming  out  of  England  ;  therefore  they  would 
discourage  them  by  dealing  with  us  ;  a  sad  thing  if  so,  when  God  would 
have  Moab  be  a  refuge  for  his  banished  ones,  and  that  Christians  will  not. 
But  God  will  be  a  refuge  for  his,  which  is  our  comfort.  We  keep  our 
meeting  at  Noddle's  Island,  every  First-day,  and  the  Lord  is  adding  some 
souls  to  us  still,  and  is  enlightening  some  others  ;  the  priests  are  much  en- 
raged. The  Lord  has  given  us  another  elder,  one  John  Russell,  senior,  a 
gracious,  wise  and  holy  man  that  lives  at  Woburn,  where  we  have  five 
brethren  near  that  can  meet  with  him  ;  and  they  meet  together  First-days 
when  they  cannot  come  to  us,  and  1  hear  there  are  some  more  there  look- 
ing that  way  with  them.  Thus,  dear  friends,  I  have  given  you  an  account 
of  our  troubles,  that  you  may  be  directed  in  your  prayers  to  our  God  for 
us  ;  as  also  of  the  goodness  of  God  to  us,  and  the  proceedings  of  his 
good  work  in  our  hands,  both  to  our,  and  I  doubt  not,  to  your  joy  and  com- 
fort. That  God  may  be  glorified  in  all,  is  our  earnest  desire  aud  prayer  to 
God,  in  all  his  dispensations  to  us.  Brother  Turner's  family  is  very  weakly 
and  himself  to.  I  fear  he  will  not  trouble  them  long ;  only  this  is  our 
comfort,  we  hear  if  he  dies  in  prison,  they  say  they  will  bury  him.  And 
thus,  my  dear  friends,  I  desire  we  may  be  remembered  in  your  prayers  to 
our  Heavenly  Father,  who  can  do  abundantly  above  what  we  can  ask  or 
think  ;  to  whom  I  commend  you  all,  and  rest,  your  friend  and  brother, 

Edward  Drinker. 
November  30,  1670. 

This  occasioned  the  following  epistle  to  them,  viz. : — 

Unto  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  meeting  on  Noddle's  Island  in  New  Eng- 
land. Grace,  mercy  and  peace  be  mightily  showered  down  upon  you  all,  with 
such  daily  supplies  to  every  one  of  you,  according  to  your  various  condi- 
tions, strengthening  the  weak,  and  making  you  to  press  forward  with  life 
and  courageous  hearts,  being  valiant  for  the  Lord  and  his  holy  truths, 
holding  out  to  the  end  in  what  ye  have  received ;  not  to  look  back,  but 
pressing  forward  to  know  more  of  his  holy  will,  like  children  desiring  the  sin- 
cere milk  of  the  word,  to  grow  up  therein.  Samuel  Hubbard,  a  very  poor 
and  unworthy  one,  yet  by  great  grace  found  in  my  sinful  estate,  among  the 
sinners  in  a  sinful  world,  in  a  sinful  age,  and  by  free  grace   called  by  a  di- 

'Mr.  Devenport  died  March  15,  1670,  aged  72 ;  and  Mr.  John  Oxonbridge,  who 
left  England,  after  the  cruel  Bartholomew  Act  in  1662,  was  settled  in  his  stead,  col- 
legue  with  Mr.  James  Allen,  who  came  from  thence  about  the  same  time. 


318  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

viue  call  or  power,  being  not  able  to  resist  it,  but  by  grace  shewed  that  it 
was  his  will  to  call  sinners  that  were  weary  and  heavy  laden  to  come  unto 
him,  making  a  gracious  promise,  that  they  should  fiud  rest  to  their  souls  ; 
Matt.  11;  and  by  his  grace  hath  made  me  willing,  in  my  very  weak 
measure,  to  be  going  ou  iu  what  he  hath  shewed  me  ;  though  I  fiud  a  law 
in  my  members,  contrary  to  God's  holy  law,  which  is  written  in  my  heart, 
leading  me  captive  both  in  thoughts,  words  and  deeds,  which  is  a  great 
burden,  and  makes  me  go  heavily.  But  blessed  be  God,  my  rock,  who 
hath  shewed  me  that  it  is  not  by  my  works,  but  by  faith  iu  our  precious 
Redeemer,  I  am  accepted  with  the  Father.  Not  thereby  taken  off  from 
endeavoring  to  keep  all  his  holy  commandments  and  ordiuauces,  but  with 
righteous  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth,  desirous  to  be  found  blameless,  when 
our  Lord  aud  King  Jesus  shall  come,  and  by  him  enabled  with  joy  to  say, 
This  is  my  Lord,  I  have  waited  for  him  ;  when  you  with  others  shall  meet 
and  sing  the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  Hallelujah  to  God  most  High, 
&c.  Dear  and  precious  hearts,  my  love  is  such  towards  you,  for  what  of 
God  is  in  you,  and  what  great  grace  hath  appeared  towards  you,  in  bear- 
ing you  up  to  stand  iu  this  hour  of  temptation,  that  your  feet  are  not 
moved,  and  your  arms  are  made  strong  by  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob  ;  yea, 
not  only  so,  but  hath  crowned  your  endeavors  with  a  blessing  of  iucrease  of 
such  precious  helps,  as  I  hear  you  have,  in  which  I  rejoice,  desiring  greatly 
of  the  Lord,  that  he  would  be  still  with  you  to  the  end  of  your  race.  Dear 
friends,  it  was  upon  my  heart  to  have  given  you  a  visit,  whereby  I  might 
have  been  refreshed  by  your  mutual  love,  as  I  have  been  to  see  your  pre- 
cious order  in  the  gospel ;  but  it  has  pleased  our  heavenly  Father  to  visit 
me  and  my  dear  wife,  by  a  sore  stroke  in  taking  away  our  only  son 
Samuel  ;*  all  we  had  ;  a  man  grown  (whose  we  are  also)  ;  but  God  of 
his  grace  hath  borne  us  up,  blessed  be  his  name  !  by  which  I  have  been 
very  much  disappointed  as  in  coming  to  you,  so  in  many  other  thiugs,  and 
am  learning  in  every  condition  to  be  content ;  a  hard  lesson  to  learn  I  find. 
Dear  brethren  aud  sisters,  what  am  I,  poor  worm,  to  inform  you  !  but  to 
stir  up  your  pure  minds  that  you  would  be  holding  fast  what  you  have  re- 
ceived, that  you  may  not  lose  your  rewards,  for  this  is  a  decliuiug  day. 
But  know,  the  reward  is  laid  up  in  most  sure  hands,  for  those  who  hold  out 
to  the  end.  I  beseech  you,  pray  with  all  manner  of  prayers,  aud  for  me, 
poor  one,  that  I  may  have  such  fresh  supplies  of  grace,  that  I  may  stand 
fast  iu  what  I  have  received  of  God,  aud  not  deny  his  name,  knowing  of 
whom  I  have  received  it.     Pray  for  me  that  I  may  have  more  of  the  spirit 

'He  wa>  in  his  L'l  >t  year,  a  very  promising  youth.  Mr.  Hubbard's  daughter  Ruth, 
married  to  Robert  Burdiek,  and  Bcthia,  married  to  .Joseph  Clarke,  jun'r,  have  left  a 
large  posterity  at  Wotrrly  ;  and  Rachel,  married  to  Andrew  Langworthy,  left  a  large 
family  in  Newport;  and  he  hoped  that  all  his  children,  and  some  of  his  grandchil- 
dren were  savingly  converted. 


[1671.]  SAMUEL  HUBBARD'S  LETTER.  319 

of  adoption,  to  cry  in  faith,  Abba,  Father ;  more  of  faith  in  those  precious 
promises  made  to  his  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  more  strength  to  run  the 
ways  of  his  holy  commandments  with  more  delight  and  largeness  of  heart 
without  partiality.  Oh  !  my  dear  friends,  pray  for  Sion  !  they  that  love 
her  shall  prosper.  Oh  !  my  brethren  and  sisters  !  pardon  my  boldness,  and 
accept  in  love  my  weak  endeavors,  and  let  me  have  from  you  a  few  lines, 
which  would  be  as  a  dew  upon  my  poor  weak  heart,  which  needs  informa- 
tion, instruction  and  comfort.  Thus,  desiring  your  prosperity  in  your 
inward  man,  and  outward  man  also,  knowing  that  if  ye  seek  first  the  king- 
dom of  God,  we  have  our  Lord's  word  for  it,  that  all  other  things  shall  be 
added  ;  committing  you  to  the  Almighty  to  bless  you  with  spiritual  bless- 
ings, with  such  daily  fresh  supplies  as  you  stand  in  need  of,  whereby  ye 
may  abound  for  his  name's  praise,  the  good  of  sinners,  strengthening  of 
saints,  comforting  one  another,  drawing  in  love  in  all  your  ways,  which  is 
as  precious  ointment,  giving  forth  such  a  precious  savor  as  that  all  Christ's 
virgins  may  love  and  rejoice  in  you,  and  bless  God  on  your  behalf.  The 
God  of  all  grace  be  with  you  all.  Amen.  My  wife  desires  to  have  her 
affectionate  and  entire  love  to  you  all  remembered.  Your  poor  weak 
brother  in  the  best  relation,  Samuel  Hubbard. 

Newport,  this  4th  day  of  the  9th  Month,  1671. 

Dear  brother  and  sister,  my  kind  love  and  respect  with  my  wife's,  be 
remembered  to  you  with  all  the  rest  of  our  dear  friends,  hoping  you  wel- 
fare. These  few  lines  are  to  let  you  understand,  that  your  loving  Christian 
letter  you  sent  me  I  received,  for  which  I  give  you  hearty  thanks.  I  deliv- 
ered your  letter  according  to  your  desire,  and  it  was  read  in  the  church, 
wherein  we  understand  the  Lord  has  been  pleased  to  take  away  your  son, 
that  was  dear  unto  you.  God  sometimes  tries  his  people  in  that  which  is 
most  near  and  dear  to  them,  even  in  their  Isaacs.  Jacob  must  part  with 
his  Benjamin,  and  say,  All  these  things  are  against  me  ;  yet  the  Lord 
turned  it  about  for  good  ;  and  he  has  promised  that  all  shall  work  for  good 
unto  those  that  love  and  fear  him  ;  and  what  he  deprives  us  of  in  the  crea- 
ture, he  is  able  to  make  up  abundantly  in  himself.  The  good  Lord  grant 
that  it  maybe  so  with  you  !  Brother  Turner  has  been  near  to  death,  but 
through  mercy  is  revived,  and  so  has  our  pastor,  Gould.  The  Lord  make 
us  truly  thankful,  and  give  us  hearts  to  improve  them,  and  those  liberties 
we  yet  enjoy  that  we  know  not  how  soon  may  be  taken  from  us.  The 
persecuting  spirit  begins  to  stir  again.  Elder  Russell  and  his  son,  and 
brother  Foster,  are  presented  to  the  Court  that  is  to  be  this  month.  We 
desire  your  prayers  for  us,  that  the  Lord  would  keep  us,  that  we  may  not 
dishonor  that  worthy  name  we  have  made  profession  of,  and  that  the  Lord 
would  still  stand  by  us,  and  be  seen  amongst  us,  as  he  has  been  in  a  won- 
derful manner  in  preserving  of  us  until  this  day.     We  should  be  glad  to 


320  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

hear  how  it  is  with  you,  and  desire  if  it  be  the  will  of  God,  that  love  and 
peace  may  be  continued  betwixt  you  and  the  other  society ;  although 
you  may  differ  in  some  things,  yet  there  may  be  endeavors  to  keep  the 
unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  and  as  far  as  we  have  attained,  to 
walk  by  the  same  rule.  I  shall  not  trouble  you  any  further,  but  commit 
you  to  the  guidance  and  protection  of  the  Almighty,  and  remain  your  un- 
worthy brother  in  the  best  relation,  Benjamin  Sweetser. 
Charlestown,  the  first,  10th  month,  '71. 

The  next  news  from  them  is  as  follows  : — 

I  perceive  you  have  heard  as  if  our  brother  Russell  had  died  in  prison. 
Through  grace  he  is  yet  in  the  land  of  the  living,  and  out  of  prison  bonds  ; 
but  is  in  a  doubtful  way  as  to  recovery  of  his  outward  health  ;  but  we 
ought  to  be  quiet  in  the  good  will  and  pleasure  of  our  God,  who  is  only 
wise.     I  remain  your  loving  brother,  William  Hamlit. 

Boston,  14,  of  the  4th  mouth,  1G72. 

We  will  now  look  a  little  back,  and  see  how  their  oppres- 
sors got  along.  The  breach  in  Boston  church  affected  many  ; 
and  the  Governor  appeared  against  the  new  party,  and  in 
July,  1669,  called  his  Council  together,  fearing,  he  said,  "  a 
sudden  tumult,  some  persons  attempting  to  set  up  an  edifice 
for  public  worship,  which  was  apprehended  by  authority  to 
be  detrimental  to  the  public  peace."  But  the  majority  of 
the  Council  were  not  for  hindering  their  proceeding.  On 
May  11,  1670,  Mr.  Danforth  of  Roxbury,  who  was  one  of 
those  that  had  been  called  to  the  Baptist  dispute  two  years 
before,  said  to  the  Assembly  in  his  election  sermon  : — 

Is  not  the  temper,  complexion  and  countenance  of  the  churches  strangely 
altered?  Doth  not  a  careless,  remiss,  flat,  dry,  cold,  dead  frame  of  spirit 
grow  upon  us  secretly,  strongly,  prodigiously?  They  that  have  ordinances 
are  as  though  they  had  none  ;  they  that  hear  the  word  as  though  they  heard 
it  not  ;  and  they  that  pray  as  though  they  prayed  not ;  and  they  that 
received  sacraments  as  though  they  received  them  not  ;  and  they  that  are 
exercised  in   holy  things,  use   them  by  the  by,  as   matters  of  custom  and 

ceremony Pride,  contention,  worldliness,  covetousncss,  luxury,  druuk- 

ennesa    and   uncleanuess  break  in   like   a   flood  upon  us  ;  and  good    men 
grow   cold  in  their  love  to  God  and  one  another.1 

'Prince's  Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  97. — B. 

This  sermon  is  entitled  "  A  brief  recognition  of  New  England's  errand  into  the 
wilderness."  Text,  "  What  went  ye  out  into  the  wilderness  to  see?"  The  quota- 
tions above  given  are  from  pages  12,  13. — Ed. 


[1672.]  NEW  LAW  AGAINST  BAPTISTS.  321 

Upon  this  the  House  of  Deputies  appointed  a  committee, 
to  inquire  into  the  prevailing  evils  that  had  procured  the 
divine  displeasure  against  the  land ;  and  they  reported  these 
among  other  causes,  viz. : — 

Declension  from  the  primitive  foundation  work,  innovation  in  doctrine 
and  worship,  opinion  and  practice  ;  an  invasion  of  the  rights,  liberties  and 
privileges  of  churches,  a  usurpation  of  a  lordly  and  prelatical  power  over 
God's  heritage,  subversion  of  gospel  order,  &c. 

They  then  go  on  to  speak  of  the  late  transaction  of  the 
elders,  in  constituting  the  third  church  in  Boston,  as  "  irreg- 
ular, illegal  and  disorderly/'  But  the  effect  was  such,  that 
among  fifty  deputies  in  their  next  Assembly,  there  were  but 
twenty  of  those  who  were  in  this ;  and  then  fifteen  ministers 
presented  an  address  to  the  new-modeled  house,  wherein 
they  mention  their  former  connection  with  rulers,  like  Moses 
and  Aaron,  and  then  call  the  setting  up  of  said  church  in 
Boston,  "  That  weighty  and  worthy  transaction."  They  pre- 
vailed with  this  house  to  correct  and  declare  against  what 
the  preceding  house  had  done  to  the  contrary.1  Such  was 
the  ministerial  influence  of  that  day.  On  May  15,  1672,  the 
Assembly  ordered  their  law-book  to  be  revised  and  reprinted; 
and  therein  they  say  : — 

Although  no  human  power  be  lord  over  the  faith  and  consciences  of 
men,  yet  because  such  as  bring  in  damnable  heresies,  tending  to  the  sub- 
version of  the  Christian  faith,  and  destruction  of  the  souls  of  men,  ought 
duly  to  be  restrained  from  such  notorious  impieties  ;  it  is  therefore  ordered 
and  declared  by  the  Court,  that  if  any  Christian  within  this  jurisdiction, 
shall  go  about  to  subvert  and  destroy  the  Christian  faith  and  religion,  by 
broaching  and  maintaining  any  damnable  heresies  ;  as  denying  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  or  resurrection  of  the  body,  or  any  sin  to  be  repented  of 
in  the  regenerate,  or  any  evil  done  by  the  outward  man  to  be  accounted 
sin,  or  denying  that  Christ  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  our  sins,  or  shall 
affirm  that  we  are  not  justified  by  his  death  and  righteousness,  but  by  the 
perfection  of  our  own  works,  or  shall  deny  the  morality  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, or  shall  openly  condemn  or  oppose  the  baptizing  of  infants,  or 
shall  purposely   depart  the  congregation  at  the  administration  of  that  ordi- 

KMassachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  pp,  272—274.  [249—251.] 
21 


322  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

nance,  or  shall  deny  the  ordinance  of  magistracy,  or  their  lawful  authority 
to  make  war,  or  to  punish  the  outward  breaches  of  the  first  table,  or  shall 
endeavor  to  seduce  others  to  any  of  the  errors  and  heresies  above  men- 
tioned ;  every  such  person  continuing  obstinate  therein,  after  due  means  of 
conviction,  shall  be  sentenced  to  banishment.1 

The  reader  may  here  observe  what  advances  they  had 
made  since  the  year  16-14.2  The  two  articles  which  the 
Baptists  own,  are  now  fenced  with  a  much  more  formidable 
catalogue  of  heresies  and  errors,  than  were  then  inserted  in 
their  law  against  them.  Though  they  still  fall  far  behind 
their  mother,  the  church  of  England  ;  for  the  last  man  that 
she  burnt  for  religion  was  a  Baptist,  and  in  the  warrant  for 
his  burning,  the  King  says  : — 

Whereas  the  reverend  father  in  God,  Ki chard,  bishop  of  Coventry  and 
Litchfield,  having  judicially  proceeded  in  the  examination,  hearing  and 
determining  of  a  cause  of  heresie  against  Edward  Wightman,  of  the  par- 
ish of  Burton  upon  Trent,  in  the  diocese  of  Coventry  and  Litchfield,  con- 
cerning the  wicked  heresies  of  the  Ebionites,  Cerenthians,  Valentinians, 
Arrians,  Macedonians,  of  Simon  Magus,  of  Manes,  Mauichees,  of  Photi- 
nus,  and  Anabaptists,  and  of  other  heretical,  execrable  and  unheard  of 
opinions,  by  the  instinct  of  Satan,  by  him  excogitated  and  holden,  &c. 

They  went  on  to  name  sixteen  articles,  many  of  them  so 
foolish  and  inconsistent,  that,  as  the  historian  observes,  he 
must  be  an  idiot  or  a  madman  to  hold  them  all.  Three  of 
them  are  in  these  words,  viz.  : — 

13.  That  the  baptizing  of  infants  is  an  abominable  custom.  14.  That 
there  ought  not,  in  the  church,  the  use  of  the  Lord's  supper  to  be  celebrated 
in  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine,  and  the  use  of  baptism  to  be  celebra- 
ted in  the  element  of  water,  as  they  are  now  practiced  in  the  church  of 
England  ;  but  the  use  of  baptism  is  to  be  administered  in  water,  only  to 
converts  of  sufficient  age  and  understanding,  converted  from  infidelity  to 
the  faith.  1G.  That  Christianity  is  not  wholly  professed  and  preached  in 
the  church  of  England  but  only  in  part. 

For  these  things  Mr.  Wightman  was  burnt  at  Litchfield,3 

'Massachusetts  Law-book,  printed  1672.  pp.  58,  59.  sSee  page  126. 

'Descendant!  of  this  martyr  to  Baptist  principles  are  said  to  have  come  early  to 
the  country,  where  several  of  them  have  been  well  known  pastors  of  Baptist  churches. 
Benedict's  History  of  the  Baptists,  Vol.  I,  pp.  190,  501,  621.  Semi-centennial  Dis- 
course of  the  New  London  Baptist  Association ;  Minutes,  18G7,  p.  40.— Ed. 


[1673.J  A  FORGED  PUBLICATION.  323 

April  11,  1611,  by  a  warrant  from  that  king,  who  in  the 
preface  to  our  Bible  is  compared  to  the  rising  sun,1  and 
whose  tyranny  drove  our  fathers  into  New  England. 

The  above  clearly  shows  that  the  church  of  England  far 
exceeded  her  daughters  in  this  land,  both  in  the  number  of 
hard  names  they  imposed  upon  the  Baptists,  and  also  in 
their  degree  of  cruelty  towards  them ;  though  a  lamentable 
imitation  of  those  evils  appears  in  this  history.  And  to  en- 
force the  fore-cited  law  among  the  rest,  the  Massachusetts 
placed  the  following  motto  in  the  title  page  of  their  law 
book  : — "  Whosoever  resisteth  the  power,  resisteth  the  ordi- 
nance of  God,  and  they  that  resist  receive  to  themselves 
damnation/'  But  whether  the  assuming  and  exerting  of 
such  power  in  religious  affairs,  be  not  the  way  to  damnation, 
rather  than  the  resistance  of  it,  deserves  the  serious  consid- 
eration of  all.  Some  years  ago,  when  the  Presbyterians 
had  the  upper  hand  in  England,2  Mr.  Samuel  Oates,  a  noted 
and  successful  Baptist  minister,  was  imprisoned,  put  in  irons, 
and  tried  for  his  life  as  a  murderer,  at  Chelmsford  assize, 
only  because  Ann  Martin,  a  young  woman  that  he  had  bap- 
tized, happened  to  die  a  few  weeks  after.  But  when  his 
case  came  to  be  tried,  her  mother  and  others  declared  upon 
oath,  "  that  she  was  in  better  health  for  several  days  after 
her  baptism  than  she  had  been  for  some  years  before  ;  and 
was  seen  to  walk  abroad  very  comfortably,"  so  that  he  was 
acquitted.3 

And  now  when  the  Episcopalians  had  gotten  the  power 
again  into  their  own  hands,  Mr.  Neal  truly  observes,  that 
the  enemies  to  the  Baptists  tried  to  ruin  them,  "by  as  un- 
paralleled a  piece  of  villainy  as  ever  was  heard  of." 

A  pamphlet  was  published  in  London,  in  1673,  entitled,  "Mr.  Baxter  bap- 
tized in  blood  ;  or  a  sad  history  of  the  unparalleled  cruelty  of  the  Anabap- 
tists in  New  England ;  faithfully  relating  the  cruel,  barbarous  and  bloody 

xCrosby's  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  108,  and  Appendix,  pp.  1 — 3. 

2See  pp.  146,  147. 

"Crosby's  history,  Vol.  I,  pp.  237,  238. 


324  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

murder  <>f  Mr.  Josiah  Baxter,  an  orthodox  minister,  who  was  killed  by  the 
Anabaptists,  and  his  skin  most  cruelly  flead  off  from  his  body.  Published 
by  his  mournful  brother,  Benjamin  Baxter,  living  in  Fenchurch  street,  Lon- 
don. "  This  pamphlet  was  licensed  by  Dr.  Parker,  the  archbishop's  chap- 
lain, and  cried  about  streets  by  the  hawkers.1  The  author  represents  his 
brother  as  worsting  the  Anabaptists  in  a  public  disputation  at  Bostou  ;  for 
which,  by  way  of  revenge,  they  sent  four  ruffians  in  vizors  to  his  house  a 
little  way  out  of  town,  who,  after  they  had  bound  his  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren, first  whipped,  and  then  flead  [flayed]  him  alive.  The  author  con- 
cludes, "1  have  published  this  narrative  in  j/crpetuam  rei  memoriam,  that 
the  world  may  see  the  spirit  and  temper  of  those  meu,  and  that  it  may  stand 
as  an  eternal  memorial  of  their  hatred  to  all  orthodox  ministers." 

But  when  search  was  made  by  authority,  they  could  find 
no  account  of  such  a  minister  as  Josiah  Baxter  in  New  Eng- 
land, nor  of  his  brother  Benjamin  in  London.  The  whole 
story  was  a  naked  and  malicious  forgery,2  and  veritied  the 
words  of  Lactan tius,  in  the  next  century  after  Constantine 
first  introduced  the  custom  of  supporting  such  ministers  by 
force  as  the  court  called  orthodox.  Said  he,  "Among  those 
who  seek  power  and  gain  from  their  religion,  there  will 
never  be  wanting  an  inclination  to  forge  and  lie  for  it."3 

As  a  contrast  to  the  above,  I  will  give  a  further  taste  of 
the  spirit  of  those  men  who  have  often  been  accused  of 
hatred  to  orthodox  ministers.  In  the  beginning  of  1665, 
Mr.  Stephen  Mumford,  a  Seventh  Day  Baptist,  arrived  from 
London  at  Newport,  and  Mr.  Hiscox,  Mr.  Hubbard,  and 
other  members  of  Mr.  Clarke's  church,  soon  embraced  tli£ 
keeping  of  that  day;  but  in  1671,  two  or  three  men  who 
had  so  done,  turned  back  to  the  observance  of  the  first  day, 
which  Mr.  Hubbard  and  others  called  apostacy,  though  many 
accounted  it  a  reformation  ;  and  in  June  that  year  Mr. 
Holmes   preached  smartly   against  the  others'  sentiments ; 

'Tea,  it  went  off  so  current  that  a  second  edition  was  got  into  the  press  in  a  few 
weeks.     Parker  was  thought  to  be  its  author.     [Crosby,  Vol.  II.  pp.  291,  292.] 

2Neal>  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  I,  pp.  374,  37").—  1$. 

Fur  a  complete  exposition  of  this  forgery,  see  Crosby,  Vol.  II,  pp.  278 — 294. 
—Ed. 

3Middleton's  Letter  from  Rome,  p.  97. 


[1673.]  LETTER  FROM  BOSTON  TO  NEWPORT.  325 

and  the  contention  increased,  till  in  December  it  caused  an 
open  separation  ;l  upon  hearing  of  which,  our  suffering 
fathers  in  the  Massachusetts  wrote  the  following  letter  : — 

To  brother  William  Hiscox,  and  the  rest  of  our  beloved  brethren  and  sisters, 
that  observe  the  Seventh  day  Sabbath  with  him,  the  church  of  Christ  in 
or  near  Boston  sends  greeting. 

Brethren,  Beloved  of  the  Lord  : — We  having  had  a  view  of  the  pro- 
ceedings between  yourselves  and  the  church,  cannot  but  be  grieved  to  see 
how  busy  the  adversary  hath  been,  and  how  easily  he  hath  prevailed  upon 
the  corruptions  of  our  nature,  to  make  breaches  and  divisions  among  those 
whom  [who],  we  dare  not  but  judge,  are  united  unto  one  Head,  even  Christ 
Jesus.  And  although  we  dare  not  judge  your  consciences  in  the  observation  of 
a  day  or  days  to  the  Lord,  yet,  brethren,  your  judging  them  that  have  so 
done,  and  we  hope  have  not  unadvisedly  changed  their  minds,  to  be  apos- 
tates, seems  to  our  understandings  to  savor  too  much  a  censorious  spirit. 
And  we,  as  brethren,  made  partakers  of  the  same  grace  of  God  through 
the  influence  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  not  being  enlightened  in  the  observation  of 
the  Seventh  day  as  a  sabbath  to  the  Lord,  shall  humbly  beseech  you  all,  to 
put  on  bowels  of  mercy,  and  not  to  be  so  strait  in  your  spirits  towards 
others  ;  but  consider,  the  only  wise  God  giveth  to  each  soul  what  measure 
of  light  and  knowledge  he  pleaseth  ;  and  it  is  he  must  give  wisdom  to  im- 
prove that  measure  of  knowledge  so  given,  or  else  we  shall  make  a  bad  im- 
provement thereof.  Now,  brethren,  we  dare  not  justify  your  action,  nor 
the  manner  of  the  actions  that  have  been  between  you  and  the  church  ;  but 
should  have  been  glad,  if  it  had  been  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Lord,  that 
you  could  have  borne  each  with  other  in  the  matter  of  difference,  and  so 
have  left  it  for  the  Lord  to  reveal  more  light  and  knowledge  to  those  that 
are  yet  in  the  dark.  But  may  we  not  say,  we  are  all  in  the  dark,  and  see 
and  know  but  in  part?  and  the  little  part  that  any  one  knoweth,  he  is  ready 

luThe  covenant  drawn  up  by  the  Seventh  Day  church  when  they  were  first 
gathered,  after  they  withdrew  from  the  church  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Mr.  John 
Clarke. 

"After  serious  consideration  and  seeking  God's  face  among  ourselves  for  the  Lord 
to  direct  us  in  a  right  way  for  us  and  our  children,  so  as  might  be  for  God's  glory 
and  our  souls'  good,  we,  viz.,  William  Hiscox,  Samuel  Hubbard,  Steven  Mumford, 
Roger  Baxter,  Tacy  Hubbard,  Rachel  Langworthy, Mumford,  entered  into  cov- 
enant with  the  Lord  and  with  one  another,  and  gave  up  ourselves  to  God  and  one  to 
another,  to  walk  together  in  all  God's  holy  commandments  and  holy  ordinances  ac- 
cording to  what  the  Lord  had  discovered  to  us  or  should  discover  to  be  his  mind  for 
us  to  be  obedient  unto ;  with  sense  upon  our  hearts  of  great  need  to  be  watchful 
over  one  another,  did  promise  so  to  do,  and  in  edifying  and  building  up  one  another 
in  our  most  holy  faith;  this  7th  day  of  December,  1671."  Manuscript  of  John 
Comer;  Backus  Historical  Society's  Library. — Ed. 


326  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  conceive  is  the  will  of  God,  and  so  would  have  all  to  see  with  his  eyes, 
and  understand  with  his  understanding ;  and  cannot  patiently  wait  on  the 
Lord  till  he  shall  make  discoveries  of  it  to  his  brethren  ;  so  that  our  quick, 
narrow  and  impatient  spirits  are  the  cause  of  so  many  breaches  and  divis- 
ions amongst  the  citizens  of  Sion  at  this  day.  By  all  which  we  humbly 
desire  the  Lord  may  make  you  and  us,  and  all  the  Lord's  people,  to  see  the 
corruption  of  our  natures  that  is  yet  unsubdued,  that  so  we  may  all  with 
sincerity  of  soul,  wait  on  him  according  to  that  measure  of  light  and 
knowledge  that  each  of  us  have  [has]  received  from  him.  And  now  brethren, 
our  desire  is,  if  it  may  be  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  that  this  breach  may 
be  healed  between  you  and  the  church.  Our  prayers  shall  be  to  the  Lord 
for  you,  that  each  one  of  you  may  be  truly  sensible,  wherein  you  have  so 
far  departed  from  the  law  of  brotherly  love,  as  to  be  an  occasion  of  grief 
one  to  another,  and  to  the  Israel  of  God,  and  have  given  an  occasion  to  the 
enemies  to  speak  reproachfully  of  the  ways  of  God  ;  not  doubting  but  you 
will  be  willing  to  look  back  over  all  those  actions  past  in  these  differences, 
and  if  you  find  anything  contrary  to  the  mind  and  will  of  God,  be  willing 
to  own  it  both  to  God  and  his  people.  We  s'.all  leave  you  to  his  care  and 
guiding,  who  is  able  to  comfort  you  in  all  your  tribulations,  and  to  estab- 
lish, strengthen  and  settle  you  ;  to  whom  we  leave  you,  and  remain  your 
poor  unworthy  brethren,  who  should  rejoice  in  your  prosperity,  both  in 
spirituals  and  temporals.     By  the  appointment  of  the  church  assembled. 

Thomas  Gould, 
William  Turner, 
John  Williams. 
Noddle's  Island,  September  1,  1672. 

This  sweet  letter,  Mr.  Hubbard  has  preserved,  and  it 
caused  no  alienation  of  mind,  but  there  remained  a  great 
nearness  between  them  as  long  as  they  lived.  I  find  him 
in  a  letter  the  next  year  to  his  brother  Hamlit  saying,  "  I 
desire  the  welfare  of  the  whole  Sion,  and  the  brethren  with 
you ;  brother  Foster,  brother  Farlow,  elder  Russell  and  his 
son  ;  yea,  to  all  the  church,  with  thanks  for  their  love  tome 
and  my  wife."  Mr.  Hamlit  wrote  on  June  19,  1673,  that 
the  Baptists  were  still  persecuted  for  their  withdrawing  from 
the  public  meetings,  and  said,  "  Brother  Trumbel  and  brother 
Osburne  were  fined  last  Court  at  Charlcstown,  twenty  shillings 
apiece  ;  they  have  appealed  to  the  Court  of  Assistants." 
But  Mr.  Bcllingham  dying,  and  Mr.  Levcrett  being  chosen 
Governor,  and  Mr.  Symonds,  Deputy  Governor,  things  took 


[1674.]  PROGRESS  OF  BAPTISTS  IN  BOSTON.  327 

another  turn,  so  that  Mr.  Hamlit  wrote  to  his  brother  Hub- 
bard, on  January  9,  1674,  and  said,  "  Brother  Drinker  hath 
been  very  sick  near  unto  death,  but  the  Lord  hath  restored 
him  to  health  again.  The  church  of  the  baptized  do  peace- 
ably enjoy  their  liberty.  Brother  Russell,  the  elder  and  the 
younger,  have  good  remembrance  of  you."  And  while  those 
governors  lived,  that  church  enjoyed  the  greatest  liberty 
that  ever  they  did  under  their  first  charter.  After  Governor 
Leverett's  death,  I  find  Mr.  Russell  and  his  church,  in  an 
appointment  of  a  day  of  thanksgiving,  expressing  their 
sense  of  "  the  Lord's  goodness  in  preserving  our  peace  and 
liberty  beyond  all  expectation  ;  God  having  removed  him, 
who  was  a  friend  to  us  in  the  authority,  by  reason  of  which 
our  opposites  have  the  greater  advantage  against  us,  who 
have  not  been  wanting  to  do  their  endeavor  to  suppress  us." 
We  shall  soon  find  how  that  advantage  was  improved.  We 
are  informed  by  their  records,  that  the  next  members  that 
were  added,  after  the  first  constitution  of  the  church,  were 
Isaac  Hull,  John  Farnum,  Jacob  Barney,  John  Russell,  Jr., 
John  Johnson,  George  Farlow,  Benjamin  Sweetser,  all  before 
Ellis  Callender,  who  was  received  November  9,  1669.  Mr. 
Hull  was  called  also  to  be  an  elder  in  the  church  in  the  time 
of  their  sufferings.  The  next  on  the  list  are  Joshua  Turner, 
Thomas  Foster,  John  Russell,  Sr.,  (afterwards  their  pastor,) 
William  Hamlit,  James  Landon,  Thomas  Skinner,  John 
Williams,  Philip  Squire,  Mary  Gould,  Susanna  Jackson, 
Mary  Greenleaf,  &c.  Elder  Gould  died  October  27,  1675, 
having  been  a  man,  "in  some  good  measure  fitted  and  quali- 
fied (says  Elder  Russell)  for  such  a  work  ;  and  proved  an 
eminent  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  for  the  carrying 
on  this  good  work  of  God  in  its  low  and  weak  beginnings." 
And  including  the  other  first  constitutors  with  him,  he 
says  : — 

Their  trouble  and  temptations  followed,  one  upon  the  neck  of  another, 
like  the  waves  of  the  sea  ;  but  these  precious  servants  of  the  Lord,  having 
in  some  good  measure  counted  the  cost  beforehand,  were  not  moved  from 


328  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

any  of  these  things,  but  were  cheerfully  carried  on  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
upon  them,  through  all  the  afflictions  and  reproaches  they  met  with  ;  and 
are  the  most  of  them  now  at  rest  with  the  Lord,  having  served  the  will  of 
God  in  their  generation.1 

Hubbard,  G2i— G27.     Russell's  Narrative,  1G80,  pp.  1,  2,  6. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


An  account    of  Philip's   war,    of  the   further   sufferings  of  the 
Baptists,  and  other  events  down  to  1690. 

The  foregoing  history  may  give  the  reader  some  idea,  of 
the  nature  and  causes  of  the  contentions  that  long  labored 
in  the  country,  between  the  natives  and  the  English.  Mr. 
Samuel  Hubbard  in  the  close  of  Philip's  war,  wrote  to  a 
minister  in  England,  and  said  : — 

God  has  been  long  waiting  with  patience,  by  several  signs  and  warn- 
ings, these  forty  years,  as  I  can  witness  [to]  ;  but  we  in  our  turnings  have 
not  so  turned  to  the  Lord  as  ought  to  be,  and  his  displeasure  is  broke  forth 
in  the  country  by  the  natives,  who  were  forced  thereto,  as  some  of  them 
said  (and  in  very  deed  I  judge  truly.)1 

I  find  by  their  records,  that  the  Commissioners  of  the 
United  Colonies,  in  September,  1662,  appointed  Captain 
George  Denison,  Thomas  Stanton,  and  James  Averell,  to 
manage  their  affairs  at  Paucatuck,  to  govern  the  Indians,  and 
collect  the  tax  imposed  upon  them  on  account  of  the  Pequots ; 
and  then  they  say  : — 

They  are  also  hereby  authorized  to  act  and  do,  or  cause  to  be  done, 
what,  in  their  discretion,  may  best  conduce,  to  reduce  them  to  civility  and 
the  knowledge  of  God,  as  well  by  causing  due  punishment  to  be  inflicted 
on  disorderly  persons  according  to  their  demerits,  as  by  encouraging  such 
as  shall  be  sent  to  instruct  them  by  order  of  the  Commissioners,  and  by 
causing  them  to  attend  thereunto. 

better  to  Edward  Stennett,  29th  day  9th  month,  1676.  Samuel  Hubbard's  Man  - 
uscript. — Ed. 


330  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

And  nothing  has  been  more  common  with  their  party  ever 
since,  than  to  represent  the  inhabitants  of  Rhode  Island  as 
an  irreligious  people  ;  but  I  trust  the  foregoing  facts  show 
that  they  were  not  all  so,  to  which  I  shall  add,  that  Mr, 
Samuel  Hubbard's  daughter  Ruth  was  converted  and  joined 
Mr.  Clarke's  church  in  1652,  when  she  was  not  thirteen 
years  old,  and  on  August  4,  1666,  she  wrote  from  Westerly 
thus : — 

Most  loving  and  dear  father  and  mother  :  My  duty  with  my  husband 

and  children  presented  unto  you,  with  all  my  dear  friends My  longing 

desire  is  to  hear  from  you,  how  your  hearts  are  borne  up  above  these 
troubles  which  are  come  upon  us,  and  are  coming,  as  we  fear ;  for  we  have 
the  rumors  of  wars,  and  that  almost  every  day.  Even  now  we  have  heard 
from  your  island  by  some  Indians  who  declared  unto  us,  that  the  French 
have  done  some  mischief  upon  the  coast,  and  we  have  heard  that  twelve 
hundred  Frenchmen  have  joined  with  the  Mohawks,  to  clear  the  laud  both 
of  English  and  Indians.  But  I  trust  in  the  Lord,  if  such  a  thing  be 
intended,  that  he  will  not  suffer  such  a  thing  to  be.  My  desire  and  prayer 
to  God  is,  that  he  will  be  pleased  to  fulfill  his  promise  to  us,  that  is,  that  as 
in  the  world  we  shall  have  troubles,  so  in  him  we  shall  have  peace.  The 
Lord  of  comfort,  comfort  your  and  our  hearts,  and  give  us  peace  in  believ- 
ing and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  Oh  that  the  Lord  would  be  pleased  to  fill 
our  hearts  with  his  good  Spirit,  that  we  may  be  carried  above  all  these 
things  !  and  that  we  may  remember  his  saying,  When  ye  see  these  things 
come  to  pass,  lift  up  your  heads,  knowing  that  your  redemption  draws  nigh. 
Then  if  these  things  be  the  certain  sign  of  our  Lord's  return,  let  us  mind 
his  command,  that  is,  Pray  always  that  ye  may  be  counted  worthy  to 
escape  all  these  things,  and  to  stand  before  the  Son  of  Man.  Let  us  have 
boldness  to  come  unto  him  in  the  new  and  living  way,  which  he  hath  pre- 
pared for  us.  Through  grace  I  fiud  the  Lord  doth  bear  up  the  spirits  of 
his  in  this  place,  in  some  comfortable  measure,  to  be  looking  above  these 
things.  The  Lord  increase  it  more  and  more  unto  the  day  of  his  appear- 
ing, which  I  hope  is  [near]  at  hand.  Dear  father  and  mother,  the  Lord 
hath  been  pleased  to  give  us  here  many  sweet  and  comfortable  days  of 
refreshing,  which  is  great  cause  of  thankfulness,  and  my  desire  is,  that  we 
may  highly  prize  it,  and  you  with  us  give  the  Lord  the  praise  for  this  bene- 
fit. I  pray  remember  my  love  to  all  my  dear  friends  with  you  in  fellow- 
ship. Sister  Sanders  desires  to  be  remembered  to  you  all ;  so  doth  sister 
Clarke.     Your  loving  daughter  to  my  power, 

Ruth  Burdick. 


[1675.1  OUTBREAK  OF  THE  WAR.  331 

Philip  was  son  to  Osamaquin  and  succeeded  him  as  the 
chief  sachem  on  the  east  side  of  Narragansett  Bay.  He 
had  this  name  given  him  by  Plymouth  Court  in  1660.  Such 
rumors  spread  of  his  preparing  for  war,  as  brought  Gov- 
ernor Prince,  and  two  of  his  Assistants  to  Taunton,  April 
13.  1671,  to  meet  three  gentlemen  from  the  Massachusetts, 
to  examine  into  the  matter.  Philip  kept  at  a  distance,  and 
sent  to  them  to  come  to  him  at  Three  Mile  River.1  The 
Governor  sent  again  for  him  to  come  to  them,  but  he  refused, 
till  old  Mr.  Roger  Williams  and  Mr.  Brown,  I  suppose  of 
Swanzey,  offered  to  remain  there  as  hostages  ;  by  which 
means  he  was  brought  forward  and  prevailed  with  to  deliver 
up  about  seventy  guns  he  had  got,  and  to  promise  future 
fidelity,  which  suspended  the  war  for  four  years.2  And  then 
it  was  brought  on  in  the  following  manner.  John  Sasaman, 
an  Indian  that  the  English  had  given  considerable  instruc- 
tion to,  both  as  to  human  learning  and  religious  affairs,  being 
with  Philip  •  at  Xamasket,  discovered  that  he  was  preparing 
for  war,  and  informed  the  English  of  it ;  for  which  he  was 
murdered  upon  a  pond  at  Assawamset,  both  of  which  places 
are  in  Middleborough.  Three  Indians  were  apprehended 
for  that  murder,  and  were  executed  at  Plymouth. 

Mr.  John  Tracy  of  Norwich  had  married  Mrs.  Mary 
Window  from  Marshfield  five  years  before,  and  returning 
from  a  visit  there  at  this  time,  happened  to  fall  in  among  a 
party  of  Indians  in  arms,  waiting  to  hear  whether  their 
friends  would  be  executed  or  not.  They  brought  him  to 
Philip,  whom  he  satisfied  that  he  was  only  a  traveler  and 
upon  no  ill  design,  so  that  he  sent  him  away  in  peace.3     But 

'This  river  runs  from  Norton  through  the  west  part  of  Taunton,  and  falls  into  the 
Great  River  betwixt  that  town  and  Dighton. 

"Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  278,  279.  [254,  255.] 

3Callender's  Century  Sermon,  p.  73.  [127.]  Mr.  Tracy  was  my  mother's  grand- 
father.—B. 

The  only  further  information  which  we  have  of  the  person  here  mentioned  is  in  a 
brief  allusion  to  him  in  Mr.  Backus's  Gospel  Comfort,  a  sermon  on  the  death  of  his 
mother,  in  which  he  says,  "Her  father,  Mr.  John  Tracy,  was  a^man  eminent  for 
vital  and  practical  religion,  who  died  on  March  27,  1726,  with  such  comfortable 


332  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

hearing  soon  after  that  those  Indians  were  executed,  they 
broke  out  on  June  24,  1675,  and  killed  nine  men  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  Swanzey,  and  fired  upon  one  in  Rehoboth ; 
which  alarmed  the  country,  and  in  four  days  an  army  was 
collected  there,  and  made  Mr.  Miles's  house  their  head-quar- 
ters. Philip  soon  left  his  station  at  Mount  Hope,  now  Bris- 
tol, and  retired  to  a  great  swamp  east  of  the  Great  River. 
The  Massachusetts  part  of  the  army  went  into  the  Narra- 
gansett  country,  and  brought  those  Indians  to  promise  not  to 
join  in  the  war,  and  then  returned,  and,  with  the  other  forces, 
attacked  Philip  at  the  swamp  on  July  18,  but  had  little  suc- 
cess therein.  Soon  after  which,  Philip  and  many  of  his 
men  repassed  the  river,  and  crossing  Seconk  plain,  made 
their  way  up  to  the  Nepmuck  Indians  in  Worcester  county, 
who  had  begun  the  war  on  July  14. 

These  alarms  caused  Mr.  Joseph  Tory  and  Mr.  Hubbard 
to  send  a  boat  which  brought  their  friends  from  Westerly  to 
Newport  this  month,  and  they  continued  on  the  island  till 
the  war  was  over.  Soon  after  Philip  had  joined  the  Nep- 
mucks,  they  violently  assaulted  a  small  English  plantation 
at  Brookfield,  and  as  Captain  Hutchinson  with  a  company 
went  to  relieve  them  on  August  2,  they  from  an  ambush 
gave  him  a  mortal  wound.  But  Major  Willard  came  two 
days  after  with  forty-eight  men,  and  slew  many  of  the  ene- 
my, and  delivered  his  friends.  Upon  which  the  enemy  steered 
further  westward,  and  on  September  1,  burnt  most  of  the 
houses  in  Deerfield,  and  killed  eight  men  the  next  day  at 
North  field  ;  and  Captain  Beers  going  with  thirty-six  men  to 
fetch  off  the  inhabitants  there,  had  a  terrible  fight  with  the 
enemy,  wherein  he  and  above  half  of  his  men  fell.  Sep- 
tember 18,  sundry  teams  went  to  bring  off  a  large  quantity 
of  grain  from  Deerfield,  and  Captain  Lothrop  went  with 
about  eighty  men  to  guard  them  ;  but  not  seeing  any  of  the 

views  of  another  world,  that  lie  charged  his  friends  to  giye  him  up,  and  not  hold  him 
any  longer  with  their  prayers.  II.  was  wry  strict  in  the  religious  education  of  his 
family,  which  this  daughter  of  his  was  ever  thankful  for  as  long  as  she  lived." — Ed. 


[1675.]  PROGRESS  OF  THE  WAR.  333 

enemy,  they  on  their  return,  got  to  picking  grapes  by  Muddy 
Brook,  when  the  enemy  got  a  dreadful  advantage  of  them. 
T  have  seen  the  stone  over  the  place  where  they  tell  me 
about  seventy  of  them  were  buried  in  one  grave.  Presently 
after,  an  assault  was  made  upon  Springfield,  where  the  min- 
ister's house  and  library  was  burnt,  with  thirty -one  houses 
beside.  But  a  large  body  of  Indians  making  an  onset  upon 
Hadley,  October  19,  and  having  killed  one  man,  were  so 
bravely  repulsed  by  the  English,  that  in  their  flight  some  of 
them  were  drowned  in  Connecticut  River,  and  others  who 
escaped,  retired  into  Narragansett.  In  that  country  on  a 
small  tract  of  upland  within  a  great  swamp,  seven  miles 
west  from  the  south  ferry  that  goes  over  from  Newport,  the 
Indians  built  and  stored  the  strongest  fort  they  ever  had  in 
this  country.  Therefore  the  colonies  gathered  an  army  of 
a  thousand  men,  under  the  command  of  Governor  Winslow, 
and  after  a  fierce  conflict,  took  and  destroyed  it,  on  December 
19.  They  supposed  that  a  thousand  of  the  enemy  were  cut 
off;  but  it  cost  on  our  side  the  lives  of  six  captains,  and  one 
hundred  and  seventy,  some  said  two  hundred  and  ten  men, 
killed  or  wounded.  They  marched  sixteen  or  eighteen  miles 
from  Major  Smith's  to  that  fight,  and  returned  through  a 
terrible  snow-storm  the  same  night.1 

*I  have  met  with  the  original  of  a  testimony  concerning  that  family,  and  that 
affair,  which  I  will  give  a  copy  of  here.     It  is  as  follows  : — 

Narragansett,  21  July,  1679,  (utvidgo.) 

I,  Roger  Williams,  of  Providence,  in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New  England, 
being  (by  God's  mercy)  the  first  beginner  of  the  mother  town  of  Providence,  and  of 
the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  being  now  near  to  four- 
score years  of  age,  yet  (by  God's  mercy)  of  sound  understanding  and  memory,  do 
humbly  and  faithfully  declare,  that  Mr.  Richard  Smith,  Sr.,  who  for  his  conscience 
to  God,  left  fair  possessions  in  Gloucestershire,  and  adventured,  with  his  relations 
and  estate,  to  New  England,  and  was  a  most  acceptable  inhabitant,  and  a  prime 
leading  man  in  Taunton,  in  Plymouth  colony  ;  for  his  conscience'  sake,  many  differ- 
ences arising,  he  left  Taunton  and  came  to  the  Narragansett  country,  where  (by 
God's  mercy  and  the  favor  of  the  Narragansett  sachems)  he  broke  the  ice  at  his 
great  charge  and  hazard,  and  put  up  in  the  thickest  of  the  barbarians,  the  first  Eng- 
lish house  amongst  them.  2,  I  humbly  testify  that  about  forty  years  from  this  date,  he 
kept  possession,  coming  and  going  himself,  children  and  servants  and  he  had  a  quiet 
possession  of  his  housing,  lands  and  meadows ;  and  there  in  his  own  house,  with 


334  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

Great  stores  of  corn  were  destroyed  in  that  fort,  which  re- 
duced the  Indians  to  terrible  distress.  But  a  thaw  in  Janu- 
ary enabled  them  to  get  some  sustenance  out  of  the  earth, 
upon  which  they  burnt  the  deserted  houses  in  Mendon,  and 
on  February  10,  1676,  made  an  onset  upon  Lancaster,  burnt 
their  habitations,  and  killed  or  captivated  forty  persons,  one 
of  whom  was  Mrs.  Rowlandson,  wife  of  the  minister,  who 
was  then  gone  to  Boston  to  procure  help  against  the  enemy. 
The  narrative  she  gave  of  her  captivity  has  lately  been  re- 
printed.1 Like  mischiefs  were  done  at  Groton,  Marlborough, 
Sudbury  and  Chelmsford  ;  and  on  February  21,  the  enemy 
wheeled  round  and  came  down  upon  Medfield,  (twenty  miles 
from  Boston,)  and  burnt  half  their  houses,  and  slew  eighteen 
men,  notwithstanding  two  or  three  hundred  soldiers  that 
they  then  had  in  town.  February  25,  they  did  considerable 
damage  in  Weymouth,  still  nearer  to  Boston  ;  and  the  like 
at  Groton  and  Sudbury  on  March  10.  The  12th,  they  cut 
off  two  families  in  Clarke's  garrison  at  Plymouth ;  and  the 

much  serenity  of  soul  and  comfort,  he  yielded  up  his  spirit  to  God,  (the  Father  of 
Spirits,)  in  peace.  3.  I  do  humbly  and  faithfully  testify  as  abovesaid,  that  since  his 
departure,  his  honored  son,  Captain  Richard  Smith,  hath  kept  possession  (with  much 
acceptance  with  English  and  pagans)  of  his  father's  housing,  lands,  and  meadows, 
with  great  improvement,  also  by  his  great  cost  and  industry.  And  in  the  late  bloody 
pagan  war,  I  knowingly  testify  and  declare,  that  it  pleased  the  Most  High  to  make 
use  of  himself  in  person,  his  housing,  goods,  corn,  provisions  and  cattle,  for  a  gar- 
rison and  supply  for  the  whole  army  of  New  England,  under  the  command  of  the 
ever-to-be-honored  General  Winslow,  for  the  service  of  his  Majesty's  honor  and 
country  of  New  England.  4.  I  do  also  humbly  declare,  that  the  said  Captain  Rich- 
ard Smith,  Jr.,  ought  by  all  the  rules  of  equity,  justice  and  gratitude  (to  his  hon- 
ored father  and  himself)  to  be  fairly  treated  with,  considered,  recruited,  honored, 
and  by  his  Majesty's  authority,  confirmed  and  established  in  a  peaceful  possession 
of  his  father's  and  his  own  possessions  in  this  pagan  wilderness,  and  Narragansett 
country.  The  premises  I  humbly  testify,  as  now  leaving  this  country  and  this 
world.  Roger  Williams, 

It  appears  by  Governor  Winthrop's  journal  that  Taunton  was  first  planted  in  1G37, 
[Vol.  I,  pp.  252,  258,]  so  that  Mr.  Smith  came  there  soon  after.  We  are  told  that 
the  mansion  house  of  the  Updike  family,  in  North  Kingstown  stands  where  he  began 
among  the  Narragansetts. 

J"A  narrative  of  the  captivity,  sufferings  and  removes  of  Mrs.  Mary  Rowlandson, 
who  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians,  with  several  others,  tad  treated  in  the  most 
barbarous  and  cruel  manner  by  the  savages,  with  many  other  remarkable  events 
during  her  travels.     1773." — Ed. 


[1675.]  TURNER,  AND  OTHER  BAPTISTS,  IN  THE  WAR.  335 

next  day  burnt  almost  all   Groton,  in  Middlesex,  to  the 
ground. 

Here  I  must  open  something  that  has  been  surprisingly 
concealed  from  this  country.  It  has  been  the  constant  prac- 
tice of  all  parties  who  are  fond  of  an  ecclesiastical  establish- 
ment by  human  laws,  to  accuse  the  Baptists  of  disobedience 
to  government,  especially  in  the  point  of  a  defensive  war. 
This  the  reader  may  see  inserted  in  a  law  of  the  Massachu- 
setts, but  three  years  before  this  war  began.  Mr.  Callender 
was  then  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Boston,  and  was 
continued  a  great  blessing  to  them  for  more  than  fifty  years. 
The  copy  of  Mr.  Russell's  Narrative  that  I  am  favored  with, 
came  out  of  his  family,  and  in  it  is  a  manuscript  note  in  the 
margin,  against  Mr.  Russell's  account  of  Mr.  Turner,  which 
says : — 

In  the  beginning  of  the  war,  William  Turner  gathered  a  company  of 
volunteers,  but  was  denied  a  commission  and  discouraged,  because  the  chief 
of  the  company  were  Anabaptists.  Afterwards  when  the  war  grew  more 
general  and  destructive,  and  the  country  in  very  great  distress,  having  di- 
vers towns  burnt,  and  many  men  slain,  then  he  was  desired  to  accept  a  com- 
mission. He  complained  it  was  too  late,  his  men  on  whom  he  could  con- 
fide being  scattered  ;   however,  was  moved  to  accept. 

They  made  him  Captain,  and  his  brother  Drinker,  Lieuten- 
ant, of  a  company  that  marched  up  with  others  in  the  be- 
ginning of  this  month,  to  relieve  the  western  towns,  under 
Major  Savage  as  chief  commander  ;  and  by  them  the  Indians 
were  repulsed  and  driven  off  from  Northampton  on  March 
14.  The  17th,  they  burnt  all  but  one  of  the  houses  in  War- 
wick, most  of  the  inhabitants  being  gone  to  Rhode  Island. 
On  Lord's  day,  March  26,  Captain  Pierce  being  at  Rehoboth, 
with  fifty  English  soldiers,  and  twenty  friendly  Indians,  heard 
of  a  body  of  the  enemy  up  Patucket  River,  and  wrote  to 
Captain  Andrew  Edmunds,  of  Providence,  to  meet  him  there 
with  his  company  to  attack  them.  He  sent  the  letter  by  a 
person  who  was  going  over  to  Providence  meeting,  but  who 
did  not  deliver  it  till  their  worship  was  done  at  noon.     As 


336  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

soon  as  Captain  Edmunds  had  read  the  letter,  he  gave  the 
bearer  a  sharp  reprimand,  for  not  delivering  it  before,  and 
expressed  his  fear  of  the  consequence  as  it  proved  ;  for  Cap- 
tain Pierce  engaging  the  enemy  alone,  who  were  also  more 
numerous  than  he  expected,  he  was  surrounded  and  cut  off, 
with  all  but  thirteen  of  his  men,  only  one  of  whom  was  of 
the  English  ;  and  it  is  said  he  escaped  by  a  friendly  Indian's 
turning  and  running  after  him  with  a  weapon,  as  if  he  was 
an  enemy,  which  others  seeing  did  not  pursue  him.  They 
tell  us  that  another  of  those  friends  escaped  in  this  manner: 
being  pursued  by  an  enemy,  he  took  shelter  behind  a  rock, 
where,  as  each  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  shoot  the  other, 
our  friend  gently  raising  his  hat  above  the  rock  upon  a  stick, 
the  enemy  discharged  his  gun  at  it,  on  which  the  other  shot 
him  down  and  escaped.  It  is  reported  that  Captain  Pierce 
and  his  men  slew  one  hundred  of  the  enemy  in  the  conflict. 
The  people  both  of  Marlborough  and  Springfield  suffered 
considerably  the  same  day.  March  28,  forty  houses  were 
burnt  in  Rehoboth,  and  twenty-nine  the  next  day  at  Provi- 
dence, the  people  retiring  into  garrisons. 

In  the  Clerk's  office  in  that  town  is  a  paper,  in  which  Mr. 
Williams  said  : — 

I  pray  the  town,  in  the  sense  of  the  late  bloody  practices  of  the  natives, 
to  give  leave  to  so  many  as  can  agree  with  William  Field,  to  bestow  some 
charge  upon  fortifying  his  house,  for  security  to  women  and  children  ;  also 
to  give  me  leave,  and  so  many  as  shall  agree,  to  put  up  some  defence  on  the 
hill,  between  the  mill  and  the  highway,  for  the  like  safety  of  the  women 
and  children  iu  that  part  of  the  town. 

To  this  eleven  principal  inhabitants  subscribed,  the  highest 
whereof  was  two  pounds  six  shillings,  except  Mr.  Williams, 
who  subscribed  ten  pounds.  Tradition  says,  that  when  the 
Indians  appeared  on  the  high  lands  north  of  their  great  cove, 
Mr.  Williams  took  his  staff  and  walked  over  towards  them, 
hoping  likely  to  pacify  them  as  he  had  often  done  ;  but  when 
some  of  their  aged  men  saw  him,  they  came  out  and  met  him, 
and  told  him  that  though   those  who  had  long  known  him 


[1676,]  CAPTAIN  TURNER'S  VICTORY.  337 

would  not  hurt  him,  yet  their  young  men  were  so  enraged 
that  it  was  not  safe  for  him  to  venture  among  them  ;  upon 
which  he  returned  to  the  garrison.  The  house  where  their 
records  were  kept  was  plundered,  and  they  thrown  into  the 
mill-pond,  but  were  recovered,  though  by  that  means  some 
passages  are  not  legible,  and  likely  many  articles  were  lost. 
In  April,  Captain  George  Denison  of  Stonington,  with  a 
number  of  English  and  Mohegan  Indians,  performed  two 
great  exploits.  They  penetrated  into  the  Narragansett 
country,  and  slew  forty-four  of  the  enemy  at  one  time,  and 
sixty  six  at  another,  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  In  the 
mean  time  the  Massachusetts  met  with  a  dreadful  blow. 
Captain  Wadsworth  and  Lieutenant  Br uttlebank,  with  above 
thirty  men,  were  cut  off  as  they  were  going  to  relieve  Sud- 
bury on  April  18.  Bridge  water,  which  was  planted  in  1652, 
was  now  assaulted  by  a  great  body  of  the  enemy  on  May  8, 
when  twelve  deserted  houses  were  burnt,  but  there  was 
never  one  of  their  people  killed  in  that  war  ;  neither  can  we 
learn  that  any  English  person  who  was  born  in  that  town, 
was  ever  slain  by  the  sword  for  eighty  years  after.1  Major 
Savage  and  most  of  his  men  returning,  he  left  Captain  Tur- 
ner to  command  in  that  quarter.  Hereupon  the  enemy, 
thinking  themselves  more  out  of  danger,  resorted,  seven  or 
eight  hundred  of  them,  to  the  great  falls  above  Deerfield,  on 
the  fishing  design.  Two  captive  lads  made  their  escape,  and 
gave  information  of  their  secure  state,  whereupon  Captain 
Turner  and  young  Captain  Holioke  of  Springfield,  collected 
what  force  they  could  on  a  sudden,  being  not  much  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  went  up  silently  in  the 
night,  tied  their  horses  at  some  distance,  and  a  little  before 
daybreak,  May  18,  1676,  came  unawares  upon  the  enemy, 
"  fired  amain  into  their  very  wigwams,  killing  many  upon 

*It  is  remarkable  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  Bridgewater  never  yet  lost  one 
person  by  the  sword  of  the  enemy,  though  the  town  is  situate  within  Plymouth  col- 
ony ;  yet  have  they  helped  to  destroy  many  of  the  enemy.     Hubbard's  Narrative  of 
the  Indian  wars  ;  Stockbridge,  1803,  p.  171. — Ed. 
22 


338  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  place,  and  frighting  others  with  the  sudden  alarm  of  their 
guns,  made  them  run  into  the  river,  where  the  swiftness  of 
the  stream  carrying  them  down  a  steep  fall,  they  perished 
in  the  waters  ;  some  getting  into  canoes,  sank  or  overset  by 
the  shooting  of  our  men  ;  others,  creeping  for  shelter,  under 
the  banks  of  the  great  river,  were  espied  by  our  men  and 
killed  by  their  swords Some  of  their  prisoners  after- 
wards owned  that  they  lost  above  three  hundred,  some 
whereof  were  principal  men,  sachems,  and  some  of  their  best 

fighting  men  that  were  left Nor  did  they  seem  ever  to 

have  recovered  themselves  after  this  defeat,  but  their  ruin 
immediately  followed  upon  it."  When  our  people  first  fired 
upon  them  they  cried  out, Mohawks!  but  in  the  morning  dis- 
covering their  mistake,  they  rallied  their  scattered  men,  and 
Captain  Turner  being  unwell,  and  so  "not  able  for  want  of  bod- 
ily strength  (no  ways  defective  for  want  of  skill  or  courage)  to 
assist  or  direct  in  making  a  retreat ;  some  of  the  enemy  fell 
upon  the  guards  that  kept  the  horses,  others  pursued  them 
in  the  rear,  so  as  our  men  sustained  pretty  much  damage  as 
they  retired,  missing  after  their  return  thirty-eight  of  their 
men."  One  of  these  was  Captain  Turner,  who  was  after- 
wards found  and  buried.1  Dr.  Stephen  Williams  says, 
"  There  were  many  remarkables  in  this  affair  (as  related  by 
Jonathan  Wells,  Esq.,  who  was  present)  which  are  not  taken 
notice  of  by  Mr.  Hubbard,  or  Dr.  Mather."2  Mr.  Hub- 
bard's account  was  examined  and  approved  by  three  gentle- 
men of  the  Council^and  so  was  published  by  authority.  All 
the  rest  of  the  Baptists  who  were  in  that  action,  but  their 
Captain,  were  preserved  and  returned.  And  as  they  again 
met  with  cruel  treatment  four  years  after,  both  from  rulers 
and  ministers,  and  the  old  charge  of  denying  magistracy 
was  revived,  they  said  in  answer  thereto  : — 

1.   It  is  directly  against  our  principles,  and  contrary  to  what  we  asserted 
in  a  confession  of  our  faith,  that  we  gave  into  the  Court,  as  also  to  thatCon- 

'Hubbard'l  History  of  that  war,  pp.  88,  94.  [205—211.] 
'Appendix  to  his  father's  and  Decrfield's  captivity,  p.  66. 


[1676.]         ANSWER  TO  CHARGES  AGAINST  THE  BAPTISTS.  339 

fession  of  our  faith  lately  set  forth  by  our  brethren  iu  old  England,  which 
Confession  we  own  in  every  particular.1  2.  Our  continual  prayer  to  God 
for  them,  according  to  I.  Tim.  ii.  1,  2,  will  witness  against  this  charge. 
3.  Our  constant  subjection  and  obedience  to  their  laws,  both  actively,  as 
far  as  we  can  with  a  good  conscience,  and  where  we  could  not  actively, 
there  have  we  been  passively  obedient ;  in  suffering  what  they  inflicted  on 
us,  without  seeking  any  revenge  in  the  least.  4.  In  paying  all  due  de- 
mands whatsoever  ;  not  being  desirous  to  withhold  from  Cassar  at  any  time, 
any  of  his  dues.  In  a  word,  both  our  persons  and  estates  are  always  ready 
at  command  to  be  serviceable  in  the  defence  of  the  country  ;  yea,  and  have 
been  voluntarily  offered  on  the  high  places  of  the  field,  in  the  time  of  the 

country's  greatest  extremity Among  whom   was  William  Turner, 

whom  they  pleased  to  make  Captain  of  that  company,  who  had  been  one 
of  the  greatest  sufferers  among  us,  for  the  profession  of  religion.  He  was 
a  very  worthy  man  for  soldiery ;  and  Edward  Drinker,  who  had  been 
another  sufferer,  whom  they  pleased  to  make  Lieutenant ;  and  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord  with  them,  they  were  made  instruments  of  the  preserva- 
tion of  one  town  from  the  rage  of  the  heathen,  who  violently  broke  into  it, 
but  they  being  there  beat  them  out.  And  after  that,  by  Captain  Turner, 
who  was  then  commander-in-chief,  as  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  the 
Lord,  was  the  greatest  blow  struck  to  the  Indians  of  any  they  had  received  ; 
for  after  this  they  were  broken  and  scattered,  so  that  they  were  overcome 
and  subdued  with  ease.  Here  it  is  to  be  observed  that  those  who  had  suf- 
fered so  much  from  the  country,  and  scandalized  as  enemies  to  the  country, 
and  their  privileges,  freely  offering  themselves  in  their  service,  have  been 
(through  the  Lord's  presence  with  them)  some  of  the  principal  instruments 

'The  Confession  published  in  London,  in  1677,  and  revised  in  1689. — B. 

"  God,  the  supreme  Lord  and  King  of  all  the  world  hath  ordained  civil  magis- 
trates to  be  under  him  over  his  people  for  his  own  glory  and  the  public  good,  and 
to  this  end  hath  armed  them  with  the  power  of  the  sword  for  defence  and  encourage- 
ment of  them  that  do  good,  and  for  the  punishment  of  evil  doers.  It  is  lawful  for 
Christians  to  accept  and  execute  the  office  of  a  magistrate  when  called  thereunto ; 
in  the  management  whereof,  as  they  ought  especially  to  maintain  justice  and  peace, 
according  to  the  wholesome  laws  of  each  kingdom  and  commonwealth,  so,  for  that 
end,  they  may  lawfully  now,  under  the  New  Testament,  wage  war  upon  just  and 
necessary  causes.  Civil  magistrates  being  set  up  by  God,  for  the  ends  aforesaid, 
subjection  in  all  lawful  things  commanded  by  them,  ought  to  be  yielded  by  us  in  the 
Lord,  not  only  for  wrath  but  for  conscience  sake ;  and  we  ought  to  make  supplica- 
tions and  prayers  for  kings  and  all  that  are  in  authority,  that  under  them  we  may 
live  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness  and  honesty."  Confession  of  1677, 
Chap.  XXXIV.  This  Confession  is  published  in  Crosby,  Vol.  Ill,  Appendix  II ; 
Confessions  of  Faith,  &c,  Hansard  Knolly's  Society,  pp.  179 — 246;  Cutting's  His- 
torical Vindications,  pp.  131 — 188.  It  was  highly  esteemed  among  the  early  Bap- 
tists of  this  country.  The  Philadelphia  Association  made  brief  additions  to  it  and 
adopted  it  in  1742.— Ed. 


340  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  subdue  the  barbarous  heathen,  and  to  deliver  the  country  from  its  great- 
est distress  ;  which  may  stand  as  a  witness  of  our  fidelity  to  the  govern- 
ment to  the  world's  end.  We  have  been  vilified  and  greatly  reproached, 
and  are  at  this  day,  it  being  without  any  just  reason  laid  to  us,  that  we  are 
one  chief  cause  of  all  the  judgments  of  God  on  the  land.  We  do  not  ex- 
cuse ourselves,  as  not  having  a  share  or  part  in  many  of  the  sins  that  have 
provoked  the  Lord  against  poor  New  England  ;  neither  have  we  been  freed 
from  having  part  with  others  in  the  general  calamities  that  God  hath 
brought  on  this  poor  place.  Yet  it  is  observable  how  graciously  the  Lord 
hath  dealt  with  us  ;  that  in  the  time  of  great  mortality  by  the  small-pox, 
when  so  many  hundreds  died,  though  many  of  us  were  visited  with  that 
visitation,  yet  not  one  of  our  society  was  removed  by  it ;  but  it  was  not  for 
any  thing  in  us,  that  the  Lord  spared  us,  but  for  his  name's  sake,  that  the 
mouth  of  our  adversaries  might  be  silent.1 

In  answer  to  this,  Mr.  Willard  said : — 

The  German  Anabaptists  were  enemies  to  civil  government ;  we  hope 
these  (though  they  have  shown  too  much  contempt  of  authority)  are  not 
so  far  gone.  But  for  his  so  gloriously  emblazoning  their  service  in  the 
late  wars,  it  is  neither  to  the  purpose,  nor  of  much  moment.  That  they 
did  join  against  the  common  enemy  is  true.  Swanzey  (a  place  chiefly  con- 
sisting of  Anabaptists,  and  where  they  had  a  church)  was  the  place  where 

the  enemy  made  the  first  onset Besides,  any  man  would  fight,  rather 

than  have  his  throat  cut ;  it  was  not  for  religion,  nor  civil  government,  but 

for  lives  and  estates Nor  did  the  Indians  receive  the  greatest  blow  at 

that  time ;  nor  is  it  the  Anabaptists'  true,  but  vain,  glory,  to  set  such  an 

encomium  upon  their  own  deeds We  have  dismissed  the  charge,  now 

comes  a  strong  argument  of  their  orthodoxy,  a  witness  from  Heaven,  viz., 
their  happy  preservation  in  the  time  of  the  small  pox.  Let  it  be  remem- 
bered, that  one  of  their  persuasion  died  of  it  at  Woburn,  (where  John 
Russell  lived,  and  should  have  observed  it)  and  many  of  their  children. 
But  be  it  so  ;  their  society  is  small,  and  scattered  from  Dan  to  Beersheba. 
And  who  knows,  but  God  might  spare  them  in  judgment,  to  harden  them? 
These  are  too  high  things  for  us  ;  only  when  God  comes  to  chasten  his  people, 
those  that  are  not  chastened,  may  ask  whether  they  are  not  bastards? 

He  had  before  said : — 

As  the  honored  magistrates  here  are  Christians,  so  have  they  judged  it 
their  duty  to  maintain  the  ways  of  Christ,  and  strengthen  them  by  civil 
laws,  which  hath   not  only  been   the  practice   of  reformers  of  old,  but  the 

constant  judgment  of  the  church  of  Christ  ever  since  the  apostles On 

this  principle  our  worthy  rulers  have  made   laws   against   many  sects  and 

'Russell's  Narrative,  pp.  11,  12. 


[1676.]  MR.  WILLARD'S  STATEMENTS  CONSIDERED.  341 

intruders,  and  among  the  rest  the  Anabaptists.  That  in  quelling  the  Ana- 
baptists they  do  not  oppose  the  truth,  but  suppress  error,  they  are  fully 
persuaded  ;  and  although  they  never  pretended  to  a  lordship  overmen's  con- 
sciences, yet  they  account  the  outward  man  is  subject  to  them  ;  and  if  they 
must  tarry  till  all  men  are  agreed  about  what  is  truth,  before  we  oppose 
error,  we  shall  stay  till  there  is  no  need  of  it.1 

According  to  this,  we  are  not  to  imagine  that  those  minis- 
ters ever  intended  to  lord  it  over  Thomas  Gould's  conscience, 
when  they  censured  him  for  not  standing  up,  and  looking  on 
when  they  sprinkled  infants  in  the  sacred  name.  He  might 
have  thought  what  he  pleased  of  it  inwardly,  if  he  would 
but  have  honored  them  before  the  people  ;2  and  though  for  re- 
fusing so  to  do,  they  excluded  him  from  the  ordinance  of  the 
Supper  for  seven  years,  and  then  for  taking  another  method  to 
enjoy  it,  they  moved  the  rulers  to  disfranchise,  fine,  imprison 
and  banish  him,  yet  all  this  was  for  error  in  his  outward 
man,  not  in  his  conscience  !  neither  must  it  be  supposed,  that 
vain  glory  had  any  influence  in  the  emblazoning  of  things 
on  their  side  ;  for  all  these  things  were  done  by  orthodox 
ministers,  and  Christian  rulers.  But  let  the  Anabaptists 
offer  themselves  ever  so  willingly,  and  at  a  time  when  the 
main  of  the  enemy  were  remote  from  their  churches,  both 
of  Boston  and  Swanzey  ;  and  let  them  do  ever  so  great  public 
service,  yet  it  must  not  be  thought  that  they  were  moved 
either  by  religion  or  loyalty.  No,  all  proceeded  either  from 
love  to  the  world,  or  else  fear  of  having  their  throats  cut 
by  the  Indians  in  Boston,  if  they  had  not  gone  a  hundred 
miles  into  the  country  to  meet  them!  This  is. spoken,  not 
in  contempt  to  any  man's  person,  but  to  expose  and  detect 
that  self-flattery  which  so  often  deceives  mankind.  The 
above  is  all  the  mention  I  ever  saw,  in  any  publication  from 
that  party,  that  shews  the  chief  commander  in  the  fall  fight 
to  have  been  a  Baptist.  Most  of  their  histories  of  that  war 
mention  his  name,  but  not  a  word  of  his  being  the  man  who 
had  before  suffered  in  the  Baptists'  cause.  And  lest  it  should 
detect  the  slanders  they  still  were  casting  upon  our  denomi- 

xXe  sutor,  &c,  pp.  23,  24.  21  Sam.  xv.  30. 


342  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tion,  they,  having  gained  his  son  to  their  party,  entirely  con- 
cealed this  fact  from  his  numerous  posterity.  For  though 
his  grandson,  Captain  William  Turner  of  Swanzey,  embraced 
our  principles,  which  he  continued  in  after  he  removed  to 
Newport,  where  he  died  in  1759,  bequeathing,  among  other 
legacies  in  his  will,  his  lands  in  Fall  Town,  adjoining  to  the 
place  where  his  grandfather  was  slain  ;  yet  in  June,  1774, 1 
was  conversing  with  one  of  his  daughters,  together  with  her 
son,  William  Turner  Miller,  Esq., both  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist church  in  Warren,  and  they  told  me,  they  had  often 
heard  of  their  ancestor's  exploits  and  death  in  Philip's  war, 
but  never  a  word  before  of  his  being  a  Baptist,  or  of  his 
sufferings  in  that  cause.  Neither  have  any  of  their  histori- 
ans ever  ventured  to  publish  a  particular  account  of  the 
Baptist  sufferings,  as  they  have  of  the  Quakers.  For  which 
I  can  give  no  better  reason  than,  because  they  could  find 
encroachments  upon  their  rights  in  the  latter  to  found  a  plea 
upon,  which  they  could  not  in  the  former.  And  the  author 
of  the  Magnalia  plainly  expressed  his  unwillingness  that 
the  records  thereof  should  be  kept  anywhere.1 

Captain  Benjamin  Church  of  Duxbury  near  Plymouth, 
who  had  made  some  beginning  at  Sokonet,  now  Little  Comp- 
ton,  east  of  Rhode  Island,  the  year  before  the  war,  carried 
his  family  on  that  Island  after  it  began,  as  a  place  in  his 
opinion  of  greater  safety  than  Duxbury  or  Plymouth  ;  and 
he  was  an  active  and  successful  commander  through  the 
war.  As  he  knew  that  Philip  had  forced  the  Sokonet  In- 
dians into  the  war,  contrary  to  the  minds  of  the  leading  part 
of  them,  he,  against  his  friends'  advice,  went  over  in  a  canoe, 
and  adventured  himself  among  them  in  June  this  year,  and 
gained  them  over  to  our  side,  by  whose  help  he  took  great 
numbers  of  the  enemy  from  day  to  day,  who  had  now. lost 
all  their  courage.  At  length  returning  to  visit  his  wife, 
whose  anxious  mind  fainted  to  see  him  again  well,  he  was 
immediately  informed  by  Major  Sanford  and  Captain  Gold- 

'Magnalia,  Vol.  I,  p.  58;  Vol.  II,  p.  552.— Ed. 


[1676.]  CLOSE  OF  PHILIP'S  WAR.  343 

ing,  that  one  of  Philip's  men  had  fled  from  him  (then  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Hope)  and  was  come  over  to  the  Island. 
Hereupon  they  all  put  spurs  to  their  horses,  and  having 
heard  the  Indian's  account,  crossed  the  ferry  in  the  night 
with  a  few  men,  and  after  Captain  Church  had  stationed  his 
ambush,  of  the  Rhode  Island  gentlemen,  beat  up  Philip's 
head-quarters,  upon  which  he  set  out  to  flee  through  a  little 
swamp,  but  after  an  Englishman  had  snapped  his  gun  at 
him  without  effect,  Alderman,  an  Indian,  fired  a  bullet 
through  his  heart,  on  August  12,  1676,  a  little  before  the 
break  of  day  ;  after  which  the  war  was  soon  brought  to  a 
close. 

This  summary  of  that  bloody  war  I  have  carefully  collected 
from  a  great  variety  of  histories  and  accounts.  And  upon 
the  whole,  it  was  said,  that  in  this  war  were  slain,  twelve 
captains  and  about  six  hundred  men ;  that  about  one 
thousand  two  hundred  houses  were  burnt,  eight  thousand 
head  of  cattle,  and  many  thousand  bushels  of  grain  de- 
stroyed ;  and  also  three  thousand  Indians.  The  loss  to  the 
English  colonies  was  computed  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling,  and  Captain  Tom,  with  another  chief  of 
the  Christian  Indians  at  Natick,  were  taken  and  hanged  at 
Boston,  for  being  active  instruments  of  those  mischiefs.1 
Many  others  were  faithful.  Of  those  twelve  captains,  Gal- 
lop, Seily  and  Marshall,  (who  were  slain  at  the  Narragansett 
fort,)  were  of  Connecticut;  Hutchinson,  Beers,  Lothrop, 
Devenport,  Gardner,  Johnson,  Wads  worth  and  Turner,  were 
of  the  Massachusetts,  and  Pierce  was  of  Scituate,  in  Ply- 
mouth colony.  From  Pierce,  one  Baptist  elder  of  that  name, 
and  many  members  of  the  Baptist  churches  of  Swanzey, 
Rehoboth  and  other  places  have  sprung. 

On  November  29,  this  year,  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard  wrote 
to  Mr.  Edward  Stennett,  in  England  ;2  and  after  what  is  re- 

^lassachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  492,  493. 

2Mr.  Stennett's  son  and  grandson,  named  Joseph,  and  great-grandson,  named 
Samuel,  have  been  noted  Baptist  ministers  in  London ;  the  two  latter,  Doctors  of 
Divinity. 


344  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

cited  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  he  further  said  of 
the  Indians  : — 

They  have  done  much  harm  iti  our  bordering  towns,  as  Warwick,  de- 
stroyed by  fires  ;  only  most  of  the  people  are  here,  and  their  goods,  and 
some  of  their  cattle  ;  and  the  like  at  Pawtuxet  and  Providence,  though  not 
altogether  destroyed,  for  a  garrison  remaineth  there  to  this  day.  And  for 
the  other  side  over  against  us  on  the  main,  which  once  was  ours,  and  is,  I 
judge,  by  charter,  many  are  killed  by  the  Indians,  the  rest  came  to  us  with 
what  they  could  bring.  Connecticut  army,  Plymouth  and  Bay  armies  being 
there,  wasted  very  much  ;  when  they  left  it,  the  Indians  burnt  near  all  that 
was  left.  In  Plymouth  the  wars  began,  and  [they]  are  sore  wasted  [lost 
most  men  of  all]  ;  the  Bay  lost  very  many  men.  Connecticut  did  most  ser- 
vice, and  I  have  not  heard  of  one  town  destroyed  or  fired  in  that  colony. 
In  the  beginning  of  these  troubles  of  the  wars,  Lieutenant  Joseph  Tory, 
elder  of  Mr.  Clarke's  church,  having  but  one  daughter  living  at  Squamicot, 
[Westerly]  and  his  wife  being  there,  he  said  unto  me,  Come,  let  us  send  a 
boat  to  Squamicot ;  my  all  is  there  and  part  of  yours.  We  sent  a  boat  so 
as  his  wife,  his  daughter,  and  son-in-law,  and  all  their  children,  and  my 
two  daughters  and  their  children  (one  had  eight,  the  other  three,  with  an 
apprentice  boy)  all  came,  and  brother  John  Crandal  and  his  family,  with 
as  many  others  as  could  possibly  come.  My  son  Clarke  came  afterwards 
before  winter,  and  my  other  daughter's  husband  came  in  the  spring,  and 
they  all  have  been  at  my  house  to  this  day Now,  dear  brother,  al- 
though we  are  not  destroyed  by  the  Indians,  God  hath  visited  this  land  by 
taking  away  many  by  death,  and  in  this  place  [very  much,  yea  to  this  day, 
yea]  of  all  sorts.  Of  the  old  church,  first  Mr.  Joseph  Tory,  then  my  dear 
brother  John  Crandal,  then  Mr.  John  Clarke,  then  William  Weeden,  a  dea- 
con, then  John  Salmon  ;  a  sad  stroke  in  very  deed  ;  youug  men  and  maids  ; 
to  this  day,  I  never  knew  or  heard  the  like  in  New  Eugland.     Last  week 

four  or  five  were  buried   in  this  town Brother  Turner  went  to  war, 

and  God  prospered  him  for  a  time,  but  he  is  now  killed  by  the  Indians  ; 
the  rest  are  well  and  enjoy  their  liberty.  Mr.  Miles,  that  was  at  Swauzey, 
is  now  with  them.  Brother  William  Gibson,  who  came  from  old  England 
witli  brother  Mumford,  is  now  gone  to  New  Loudon  to  visit  our  brethren 
there. 

Mr,  Mumford  had  been  over  to  London,  and  he  with  Mr. 
Gibson  returned  to  Boston,  in  October  16,  1675.  Mr.  (lib- 
son  afterward  succeeded  Elder  Hiscox  in  the  pastoral  office 
at  Newport. 

The  above  account  of  the  preservation  of  Connecticut,  as 
well  as  the  other  articles  expressed,  are  just,  as  far  as  I  can 


[1676.]  THE  INDIANS  ON  MARTHA'S  VINEYARD.  345 

learn.  The  Mohegan  Indians,  under  Uncas,  did  the  Eng- 
lish great  service  in  that  war.  I  have  seen  scarce  any  ac- 
count of  any  other  damages  in  Swanzey  and  Rehoboth,  beside 
what  have  been  recited,  except  the  Indians'  killing  Captain 
Willet's  son  near  the  garrison  in  Swanzey  this  year.  Mid- 
dleborough  and  Dartmouth  were  but  just  begun  before  the 
war,  and  when  it  came  on,  the  English  and  part  of  the  Indians 
therein,  removed  to  Plymouth  and  other  places  of  greater 
safety  ;  and  the  large  body  of  natives  near  to  and  upon  Cape 
Cod,  continued  in  amity  with  the  English,  as  those  on  the 
islands  south  of  it  also  did.  Of  the  latter  I  have  met  with 
the  following  entertaining  account. 

Thomas  Mayhew,  Esq.,  obtained  a  grant  of  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, with  the  islands  adjacent,  and  began  a  settlement  at 
Edgartown,  on  the  east  part  of  the  Vineyard,  in  1642,  where 
he  was  their  chief  ruler,  and  his  son  their  minister.  In 
1646,  the  son  began  to  preach  to  the  Indians  with  success  ; 
to  promote  which  cause  his  father  told  them,  "  that  by  order 
from  the  crown  of  England,  he  was  to  govern  the  English 
who  should  inhabit  those  islands ;  that  his  royal  master  was 
in  power  far  above  any  of  the  Indian  monarchs  ;  but  that 
as  he  was  great  and  powerful,  so  he  was  a  lover  of  justice ; 
and  that  therefore  he  would  in  no  measure  invade  their 
jurisdictions,  but  on  the  contrary  assist  them  if  need  required; 
that  religion  and  government  were  distinct  things,  and  their 
sachems  might  retain  their  just  authority,  though  their  sub- 
jects were  Christians."  And  he  practiced  according  to  his 
profession  ;  for  "  he  would  not  suffer  any  to  injure  them 
either  in  their  goods,  lands  or  persons.  They  always  found 
a  father  and  protector  in  him  ;  and  lie  was  so  far  from  in- 
troducing any  form  of  government  among  them  against  their 
wills,  that  he  first  convinced  them  of  the  advantage  of  it. 
and  even  brought  them  to  desire  him  to  introduce  and  settle 
it."  This  wise  conduct  and  the  gospel  means  that  were 
used  with  them,  produced  such  happy  effects,  that  a  Chris- 
tian church  was  formed  and  organized  among  them  five 


346  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

years  before  this  war.  And  now  in  the  time  of  it,  the  govern- 
ment furnished  those  Christian  Indians  with  arms  and  ammu- 
nition and  employed  them  to  defend  the  islands  against  the 
enemy.  "And  so  faithful  were  they,  that  they  not  only  reso- 
lutely rejected  the  strong  [and  repeated]  solicitations  of  the 
natives  on  the  neighboring  main,  but,  in  observance  of  the  gen- 
eral orders  given  them,  when  any  landed  to  solicit  them, 
though  some  were  nearly  related  by  marriage,  and  others  by 
blood,  yet  the  island  Indians  would  immediately  bring  them 
before  the  Governor  to  attend  his  pleasure."  By  the  divine 
blessing  on  these  means,  though  the  Indians  there  were  twenty 
to  one  of  the  English,  yet  through  this  extensive  and  bloody 
war,  "  these  islands  enjoyed  a  perfect  calm  of  peace  ;  and 
the  people  wrought  and  dwelt  secure  and  quiet.1 

'Prince's  Appendix  to  Mayhew's  Indian  converts,  pp.  293—207.  In  that  perform- 
ance I  find  that  Mr.  Peter  Foulger  was  early  employed  as  a  "school-master  among 
those  Indians,  and  when  young  Mr.  Mayhew  went  to  England,  in  1667,  Mr.  Prince 
6ays,  they  had  not  only  several  Indian  teachers  on  the  island,  but  also  'an  able, 
godly  Englishman  named  Peter  Foulger,  employed  in  teaching  the  youth  in  reading, 
writing  and  the  principles  of  religion  by  catechizing;  being  well  learned  likewise  in 
the  Scripture,  and  capable  of  helping  them  in  religious  matters."  p.  291.  I  find 
by  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard,  that  Mr.  Foulger  became  a  Baptist,  and  joined  Mr.  Clarke's 
church  about  the  time  of  this  war;  as  Thomas  West,  an  Englishman,  and  some  In- 
dians from  thence,  did  to  Mr.  Hiscox's  church  in  1680.  And  Mr.  Foulger  promoted 
the  Baptist  principles  among  the  Indians.  Though  one  of  them  named  Japheth,  who 
had  been  his  scholar,  and  now  was  got  to  be  a  noted  teacher,  reminded  him  that  he 
had  formerly  warned  them  against  false  teachers  that  would  come,  and  said  he, 
''Now  Sir,  I  find  your  prediction  true,  for  you  yourself  are  become  one  of  these 
teachers,  you  cautioned  us  against ;  I  am  therefore  fully  resolved  to  take  your  good 
counsel,  and  not  believe  you,  but  will  continue  steadfast  in  the  truths  wherein  you 
formerly  instructed  me."  Mayhew,  pp.  49,  50.  However  he  found  others  not  to  be 
60  resolute,  for  by  the  time  that  their  Governor,  Mayhew,  died  in  1680,  the  Baptist 
principles  had  prevailed  considerably  among  them;  and  by  the  year  1694,  they  had 
one  Baptist  church  on  the  Vineyard  among  the  Christian  Indians,  and  another  on 
Nantucket.  Magnalia,  B.  6,  p.  56.  [Vol.  II,  p.  375.]  The  first  Indian  pastor  over 
those  Baptists  on  the  Vineyard,  that  I  have  seen  any  accountof,  was  Stephen  Tacka- 
mason.  lie  first  joined  a  church  of  the  other  denomination,  in  or  about  1690.  Mr. 
Mayhew  informs  us,  that  he  was  re-baptized  some  years  after,  and  became  a  membe 
and  a  teacher  of  that  church,  but  says,  "However,  he  appeared  to  be  so  serious  a  man, 
that  I  cannot  but  judge,  that  lie  acted  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  in  what 
he  did,  and  not  out  of  any  base  or  sordid  ends."  lie  died  in  Chilmark,  in  1708  ;  and  our 
author  says,  "I  had  frequent  conversation  with  him  while  he  was  in  health,  and 
sometimes  ....  in  the  time  of  that  long  sickness  whereof  he  died;  and  never  from 
first  to  last  saw  anything  by  him,  that  made  me  anyways  suspect  the  integrity  of  his 


[1676.]  BAPTISTS  AT  MARTHA'S  VINEYARD.  347 

Ninegret  and  his  Nyantick  subjects,  who  dwelt  from  Point 
Judith  up  to  Westerly,  on  the  shore  south  of  the  Narragan- 
setts,  did  not  join  in  that  war  ;  and  a  considerable  number 
of  their  descendants  now  live  there  in  Charlestown  ;  and  in 
1741  a  great  reformation  took  place  among  them  ;  a  Baptist 

heart,  but  did  ever  think  him  to  be  a  godly  and  discreet  man.  The  last  time  I  went 
to  see  him,  he  professed  his  good  opinion  of  those  people  and  churches,  from  whom 
he  differed  in  his  apprehensions  about  the  subjects  and  mcde  of  baptism,  and  blamed 
some  of  his  brethren  for  being  too  uncharitable  and  censorious  towards  them ;  and 

he  on  other  subjects,  discoursed  like  a  good  Christian He  seemed  not  to  be  at 

all  terrified  at  the  approaches  of  death  towards  him,  of  which  he  was  very  sensible, 
but  appeared  to  enjoy  that  peace  in  his  soul,  which  passeth  understanding."  Pp. 
42 — 44.  These  are  the  words  of  Mr.  Experience  Mayhew,  in  his  "Indian  Con- 
verts," published  in  1727.  His  worthy  son,  who  succeeds  him  in  the  ministry  among 
the  Indians  on  the  Island,  treated  one  of  my  brethren  in  the  ministry  very  friendly, 
when  he  was  over  and  preached  among  those  Baptists,  near  three  years  ago.  I  had 
requested  my  friend  to  collect  some  account  of  those  Baptists,  and  he  applied  to 
Mr.  Mayhew  for  that  purpose ;  who  promised  he  would  get  the  best  intelligence  he 
could  concerning  them,  from  an  aged  aunt  of  his,  w  ho  retained  her  mental  powers 
remarkably,  and  from  others.     He  sent  the  same  in  the  following  letter  : — 

"Reverend  Sir  : — In  compliance  with  your  request  I  have  got  the  best  informa- 
tion I  could,  with  respect  to  the  origin  of  Anti-pasdobaptists  at  Martha's  Vineyard. 
My  aged  aunt  informs  me,  that  the  first  Baptist  minister  among  the  Indians  on  the 
island,  that  she  knew  or  heard  of,  was  one  Isaac  Decamy,  who  came  from  the  main- 
land with  his  family,  and. preached  and  administered  the  ordinances  of  baptism  and 
the  Lord's  Supper,  a  number  of  years.  She  is  uncertain  what  year  he  came,  but 
according  to  the  best  of  her  memory  the  said  Decamy  died  near  sixty  years  agone. 
She  saith  further,  that  he  was  a  man  of  a  sober  life  and  conversation.  The  next 
Indian  minister  of  this  denomination,  by  the  best  intelligence  I  can  get,  was  Jonas 
Horswet,  who  preached  and  administered  the  ordinances  to  a  small  society  of  Bap- 
tists at  Gay  Head.  The  next  was  Ephriam  Abraham,  originally  of  Chappaquidick, 
at  the  east  end  of  the  island,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  society  at  Gay  Head,  as  also 
of  one,  which  about  this  time  was  formed  at  said  Chappaquidick.  The  next  ordain- 
ed minister  was  Samuel  Kakenehew,  whom  I  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with;  he 
lived  at  Chappaquidick,  was  esteemed  by  such  as  knew  him,  to  be  a  man  of  sense, 
and  of  a  regular  and  Christian  life  and  conversation.  There  were  several  other 
preachers  among  them,  but  not  ordained;  except  Silas  Paul,  who  is  now  living,  and 
is  an  ordained  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church  at  Gay  Head,  and  who  also  takes  upon 
him  the  care  of  the  small  society  of  that  denomination  at  Chappaquidick;  preaching 
occasionally,  and  administering  the  ordinances  to  them.  He  is  the  only  Indian  min- 
ister of  this  denomination  now  upon  this  island. 

This  is  the  best  information  that  can  be  obtained  by  your  friend  and  fellow-laborer 
in  the  work  of  the  ministry, 

Zechariah  Mayhew." 

Chilmark,  27  August,  1774. 

This  was  directed  to  Elder  Hunt,  who  says,  the  said  Paul  informed  him  that  he  was 
then  thirty-four  years  old,  was  baptized  in  1758,  ordained  in  1763;  that  the  church 
at  Gay  Head  had  thirteen  members,  and  the  other,  sixteen.  \ 


3-48  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

church  was  formed  there  some  years  after,  over  whom  James 
Simons  was  ordained;  and  since  that,  Samuel  Xiles,  both  of 
their  own  nation  ;  and  a  considerable  number  of  them  have 
given  lasting  evidence  of  their  being  pious  Christians. 

It  may  be  proper  to  take  some  particular  notice  here  of 
Mr.  Clarke,  who  left  as  spotless  a  character  as  any  man  I 
know  of,  that  ever  acted  in  any  public  station  in  this  coun- 
try.1    The  Massachusetts  writers  have  been  so  watchful  and 

'He  was  born  October  8,  1G09  ;  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Harges,  Esq. , 
of  Bedfordshire.  In  a  power  of  attorney  signed  by  them,  May  12,  1656,  he  styles 
himself,  John  Clarke,  physician,  of  London.  It  was  for  the  recovery  of  a  legacy  of 
twenty  pounds  per  annum  during  her  life,  that  was  given  her  by  her  father  out  of 
the  manor  of  Wreslingworth,  Bedfordshire.  Where  he  had  his  education  I  know 
not;  but  the  following  clause  in  his  will  may  give  some  idea  of  his  learning,  viz.  : 
1  Item,  unto  my  loving  friend  Richard  Bailey,  I  give  and  bequeath,  my  Concordance 
and  Lexicon  to  it  belonging,  written  by  myself,  being  the  fruit  of  several  years' 
study ;  my  Hebrew  Bibles,  Buxtorff's  and  Passor's  Lexicon,  Cotton's  Concordance, 
and  all  the  rest  of  my  books."  His  first  wife  died  at  Newport  without  any  issue, 
and  February  1,  1671,  he  married  Mrs.  Jane  Fletcher,  by  whom,  February  14,  1672, 
he  had  a  daughter  born;  but  the  mother  died  the  19th  of  April  following,  and  the 
daughter  May  18,  1673.  His  third  wife  was  the  widow  Sarah  Davis,  who  survived 
him.  He  gave  some  legacies,  both  to  her  and  to  the  children  she  had  by  her 
former  husband,  Mr.  Bailey,  who  came  from  London  with  him  in  1664. — B. 

"  It  is  not  certainly  known,"  says  Elton,  "  where  Mr.  Clarke  was  born,  but  tra- 
dition makes  him  a  native  of  Bedfordshire."  Appendix  to  Callender's  Century  Ser- 
mon, Rhode  Island  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV,  p.  210.  A  different  tradition,  to- 
gether with  other  valuable  notes  in  connection  with  his  history,  is  presented  in  the  fol- 
lowing extract  from  a  letter  from  a  descendant  of  the  family  : — "  In  the  old  family 
Bible,  which  was  Thomas  Clarke's,  the  father  of  John  Clarke,  is  this  notice,  viz.  : 
1  The  2  of  the  10  month,  1674,  Thomas  Clarke,  son  of  Thomas  Clarke,  of  Wastrup, 
[Westthorpe,  in  Suffolk,]  departed  this  life  in  Newport  on  Rod  Island,  in  the  house 
of  his  brother  [John].'  I  have  inserted  in  brackets  the  name  of  the  place  which  I 
think  is  meant.  I  have  many  reasons  for  believing  that  the  family  were  from  Suf- 
folk. The  wife  of  Thomas  Clarke,  senior,  was  Rose  Herrige,  of  an  ancient  Suffolk 
family.  There  is  in  the  Bible  a  family  record  in  the  hand-writing  of  Thomas  Clarke, 
Commencing,  'John  Clarke,  my  grandfather,  was  buried  the  3d  of  March.  A.  1). 
1659,'  and  ending  with  the  birth  and  baptism  of  his  own  children,  which  were.  '  Mar- 
gret,  born  the  1st  of  February,  1600;  [the  dates  of  course  are  old  style]  Carewe, 
born  the  3d  of  February,  1602;  Thomas,  baptized  the  31st  of  March,  160.5;  Meric, 
baptized  the  17th  of  July,  1607;  John,  born  October  8th,  1609;  William,  baptized 
the  11  th  of  February,  1610;  Joseph,  baptized  the  16t:i  of  December,  horn  (.)th, 
1618.'" 

The  services  of  .John  Clarke  can  scarcely  be  over-estimated.  In  the  principles 
which  he  caused  to  be  incorporated  in  the  plantation  of  Rhode  [eland  at  its  begin- 
ning, and  which  he  diligently  watched  over  and  preserved,  in  the  constant  public 
employments  U  which  he  was  engaged  for  the  united  plantations  of  the  island  and 


[1676.]  CHARACTEK  AND  SERVICES  OF  JOHN  CLARKE.  349 

careful,  to  publish  whatever  they  could  find,  which  might 
seem  to  countenance  the  severities,  they  used  towards  dis- 
senters from  their  way,  that  I  expected  to  find  something  of 
that  nature  against  Mr.  Clarke ;  but  have  happily  been  dis- 
appointed. Though  he  was  disarmed  by  them  in  1637,1  and 
imprisoned  and  fined  at  Boston,  in  1651,  and  he  exposed 
their  injustice  and  cruelty,  to  him  and  his  brethren,  in  print 
the  next  year,  and  continued  in  England,  to  oppose  and  de- 
feat all  their  attempts  at  the  Court  there  against  his  colony, 
till  he  obtained  their  present  charter ;  yet  among  all  their 
authors  or  records,  that  I  have  searched,  I  have  not  met  with 
a  single  reflection  cast  upon  him  by  any  one  ;  which  I  think 
is  very  extraordinary.  There  was  doubtless  enough  said 
against  him,  for  his  principles  of  believer's  baptism  and  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  to  secure  him  from  the  wo  of  being 
spoken  well  of  by  all  men  ;  yet,  like  Daniel,  it  seems  as  if 

the  main,  and  especially  in  his  work  as  agent  for  the  colony  in  England,  in  securing 
the  liberal  charter  under  which  Rhode  Island  as  a  colony  and  afterwards  as  a  State 
was  governed  and  prospered  for  nearly  two  centuries,  he  took  his  rank  second  to 
none,  certainly,  but  Roger  Williams,  among  Rhode  Island's  benefactors.  His  work 
has  probably  never  been  appreciated  as  it  deserves,  his  fame  having  been  unduly 
overshadowed  by  that  of  his  contemporary,  the  founder  of  Providence. 

Whether  he  accepted  the  peculiar  sentiments  of  the  Baptists  among  those  of  that 
faith  in  England,  or  alone  in  the  wilds  of  America,  we  do  not  know ;  but  his  views 
on  these  and  other  points  of  Christian  doctrine,  are  so  clear  and  scriptural  that  they 
might  stand  as  the  confession  of  faith  of  Baptists  today,  after  more  than  two  centu- 
ries of  experience  and  investigation. 

The  testimony  which  Backus  proceeds  to  give  to  the  purity  of  his  character  and 
to  his  good  name,  even  amon-g  his  enemies,  has  been  fully  corroborated  by  later 
writers.  Says  Allen,  in  his  Biographical  Dictionary.  "  His  life  was  so  pure  that  he 
was  never  accused  of  any  vice  which  has  left  a  blot  on  his  memory."  Bancroft 
says  of  him,  "  Never  did  a  young  commonwealth  possess  a  more  faithful  friend," 
and  calls  him  "  the  modest  and  virtuous  Clarke,  the  persevering  and  disinterested 
envoy,  who,  during  a  twelve  years'  mission  had  sustained  himself  by  his  own  exer- 
tions and  a  mortgage  on  his  estate ;  whose  whole  life  was  a  continued  exercise  of 
benevolence,  and  who,  at  his  death,  bequeathed  all  his  possessions  for  the  relief  of 
the  needy  and  the  education  of  the  young.  Others,"  he  adds,  "  have  sought  office 
to  advance  their  fortunes ;  he,  like  Roger  Williams,  parted  with  his  little  means  for 
the  public  good.  He  had  powerful  enemies  in  Massachusetts,  and  left  a  name  with- 
out a  spot."     History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  II,  pp.  61,  64,  65. — Ed. 

*A  "  Mr.  Clarke"  was  among  those  disarmed,  but  whether  the  John  Clarke  of  tins 
history,  may  be  questioned.     See  p.  70,  note. — Ed. 


350  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

his  enemies  could  find  no  fault  in  him  in  matter  of  the  king- 
dom, but  only  concerning  the  law  of  his  God. 

Few  men  ever  merited  the  title  of  a  patriot  more  than  he 
did  ;  for  he  was  a  principal  procurer  of  Rhode  Island,  for 
sufferers  and  exiles.  And  when  their  rights  and  liberties 
were  grossly  invaded,  he  crossed  the  boisterous  ocean,  and 
exerted  all  his  influence,  in  twelve  years'  watchful  and  dili- 
gent labors  for  his  colony,  at  the  British  Court,  till  he  ob- 
tained a  new  charter  for  them,  of  great  and  distinguishing 
privileges  ;  for  the  accomplishment  of  which,  he  mortgaged 
his  own  estate  in  Newport,  willing  to  venture  his  all,  in  so 
good  a  cause,  though  he  was  not  insensible  of  the  covetous- 
ness  and  ingratitude  of  some  great  pretenders  to  liberty  in 
that  colony  ;  whose  influence  had  caused  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  and  expense  to  Mr.  Williams,  without  any  suitable 
recompence.1     The  inventions  of  men  are  scarce  ever  more 

'Six  years  after  Mr.  Williams  obtained  their  first  charter,  viz.  :  On  March  22, 
1650,  he  presented  a  paper  to  the  deputies  and  inhabitants  of  Providence,  which  con- 
tained four  requests  for  others,  and  a  fifth  for  himself,  wherein  he  says  : — "  I  can- 
not be  so  unthankful  to  you,  and  so  insensible  of  my  own  family's  comfort,  as  not 
to  take  notice  of  your  continued  and  constant  love  and  care,  in  your  many  public 
and  solemn  orders  for  the  payment  of  that  money  due  unto  me  about  the  charter. 
It  is  true,  I  have  never  demanded  it;  yea,  I  have  been  truly  desirous,  that  it  might 
have  been  laid  out  for  some  further  public  benefit  in  each  town  ;  but  observing  your 
loving  resolution  to  the  contrary,  I  have  at  last  resolved  to  write  unto  you  (as  I  have 
also  lately  done  to  Portsmouth  and  Newport)  about  the  better  ordering  of  it  to  my 
advantage.  I  have  here,  through  God's  providence,  convenieney  of  improving  some 
goats ;  my  request  is  therefore,  that,  if  it  may  be  without  much  trouble,  you  would 
please  to  order  the  payment  of  it  in  cattle  of  that  kind.  I  have  been  solicited,  and 
have  promised  my  help  about  iron  works,  when  the  matter  is  ripe;  earnestly  desir- 
ous every  way  to  further  the  good  of  the  town  of  Providence,  to  which  I  am  so  much 
engaged,  and  to  yourselves  the  loving  inhabitants  thereof,  to  whom  I  desire  to  be 
your  truly  loving  and  ever  faithful 

Roger  Williams." 

Yet  lie  never  received  all  his  pay  for  that  first  charter.  And  though  the  first  As- 
sembly that  met  after  they  received  the  second,  voted  Mr.  Clarke  the  reward  that 
has  been  mentioned,  yet  they  were  very  backward  about  fulfilling  their  promise. 
Their  General  Assemblies  from  year  to  year,  wrote  to  stir  up  the  towns  thereto;  but 
at  the  Assembly  of  April  2,  1(172,  an  account  was  exhibited,  examined,  approved  and 
attested  by  (Jovernor  Arnold  and  three  Assistants,  which  is  now  extant  under  their 
own  hands,  wherein  it  appears,  that  when  Mr.  Clarke  obtained  said  charter,  he  had 
received  but  two  hundred  and  twenty-one  pounds,  three  shillings,  though  the  char- 


[1676.]  DEATH  OF  JOHN  CLAKKE.  351 

fruitful,  than  in  finding  out  ways  to  get  money,  and  excuses 
to  keep  it ;  but  how  few  have  parted  with  it  for  public  good, 
so  freely  as  Mr.  Williams  and  Mr.  Clarke  did ! 

After  Mr.  Clarke's  return,  he  was  improved  in  various  pub- 
lic offices ;  was  elected  Deputy  Governor  three  years  suc- 
cessively, in  two  of  which  he  accepted  the  office ;  but  all 
the  concern  of  the  State  did  not  prevail  with  him,  as  it  has 
done  with  many,  to  neglect  the  affairs  of  religion.  His 
church  records  and  other  writings  prove,  the  continuance  of 
his  pastoral  relation  to  the  first  church  in  Newport,  and  his 
care  and  labors  to  uphold  gospel  worship,  and  discipline 
therein.  And  the  instrument  by  which  he  settled  his  last 
concerns  in  this  world,  shows  what  his  faith  and  hopes  were, 
as  to  that  which  is  to  come ;  for  therein  he  says  : — 

Whereas,  I,  John  Clarke  of  Newport,  in  the  colony  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations  in  New  England,  physician,  am  at  this  present, 
through  the  abundant  goodness  and  mercy  of  my  God,  though  weak  iu  my 
body,  yet  sound  in  my  memory  and  understanding,  and  being  sensible  of 
the  inconveniencies  that  may  ensue  in  case  I  should  not  set  my  house  in 
order  before  this  spirit  of  mine  be  called  by  the  Lord  to  remove  out  of  this 
tabernacle,  do  therefore  make  and  declare  this  my  last  will  and  testament, 
in  manner  following ;  willing  and  readily  resigning  up  my  soul  unto  my 
merciful  Redeemer,  through  faith  in  whose  death  I  firmly  hope  and  believe 
to  escape  from  that  second  hurting  death,  and  through  his  resurrection  and 
life,  to  be  glorified  with  him  in  life  eternal.  And  my  spirit  being  returned 
out  of  this  frail  body,  in  which  it  hath  conversed  for  about  sixty-six1  years 
my  will  is,  that  it  be  decently  interred,  without  any  vain  ostentation,  between 
my  loving  wives  Elizabeth  and  Jane,  already  deceased,  in  hopeful  expecta- 
tion, that  the  same  Redeemer  who  hath  laid  down  a  price  both  for  my  soul 

ter  with  his  time  and  pains  cost  six  hundred  and  fifty-one  pounds,  seventeen  shil- 
lings, ten  pence  ;  one  hundred  pounds  of  which  was  then  due  to  him,  and  was  ordered 
to  be  paid  in  provision  pay,  two  pounds  for  one ;  but  he  never  received  any  of  it  in 
his  life  time.  By  his  papers  I  find  that  he  mortgaged  his  estate  in  Newport,  to 
Captain  Kichard  Deane,  of  London,  the  same  month  that  he  procured  the  charter, 
and  that  it  was  not  taken  up  till  September  5,  1699,  when  the  last  payment  of  one 
hundred  and  fifteen  pounds  was  made  to  Captain  Deane's  heirs. 

'The  article  on  John  Clarke  in  Allen's  Biographical  Dictionary,  places  his  death 
at  the  age  of  fifty-six.  It  also  states  that  Mr.  Clarke  paid  the  fine  which  was  assessed 
upon  him  in  Boston  in  1651.  See  pp.  225,  237,  248.  These  things  are  mentioned 
because  this  article  is  often  referred  to,  and,  except  these  errors,  is  correct  and  val- 
uable.—Ed. 


352  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  body,  will  raise  it  up    at  the   last  day  a  spiritual   one,  that  they  may 
together  be  singing  hallelujah  unto  him  to  all  eternity.1 

Oh !  what  miserable  things  are  all  earthly  pleasures  or 
glories,  when  compared  with  such  a  life,  and  such  a  death  ! 
''Mark  the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright ;  for  the 
end  of  that  man  is  peace." 

It  has  often  been  observed,  that  when  one  heavy  affliction 
comes  upon  a  person  or  people,  others   soon  follow ;  which 

Copied  from  the  original  will,  dated  April  20,  1676.  He  quitted  our  world  the 
same  day.  As  he  left  no  child,  he  gave  many  legacies  to  his  relations  and  friends, 
both  in  that  colony  and  in  the  Massachusetts.  His  brother  Joseph  Clarke  was  early 
a  member  of  the  church  in  Newport  with  him,  and  was  often  magistrate  of  the  col- 
ony ;  whose  son  Joseph  was  also  a  member  of  that  church,  and  then  of  the  church 
n  Westerly,  where  his  posterity  are  numerous  and  respectable  to  ttiis  day.  Eliei 
Clarke,  gave  a  particular  lot  of  land  in  Newport,  to  his  brother's  son  John,  whose 
posterity  have  also  been  respectable  among  the  Baptists  ever  since,  one  of  whom  is 
Mr.  Edward  Clarke,  now  a  gospel  preacher  near  Providence.  Then,  after  giving  a 
small  lot  in  town  to  his  church,  and  giving  his  wife  the  use  of  his  house  and  farm, 
containing  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  of  upland  and  marshes,  together 
with  ten  acres  in  apart  of  Newport,  called  the  Neck,  during  her  life,  he  gave  said 
farm  and  Neck  to  his  friends,  William  Weeden,  Philip  Smith  and  Richard  Bailey 
and  to  their  assigns,  "qualified  and  chosen  in  manner  following  forever;  that  is  to 
say,  that  when  it  shall  happen  that  either  of  them  three  decease,  the  two  surviving 
shall  make  choice  of  an  understanding  person,  fearing  the  Lord,  to  succeed  in  the 
place  of  him  so  deceased;  and  in  case  the  two  surviving  differ  in  their  choice  of  the 
person  to  succeed  in  the  room  of  him  so  deceased,  that  then  the  choice  shall  be  de- 
cided by  lot;  which  person  so  chosen  shall  be  the  assignees  of  the  said  persons 
above-mentioned,  and  shall  have  equal  power  to  act  with  them  in  all  matters  relat- 
ing to  the  disposal  of  the  profit  or  rent  of  the  said  land  and  farm,  from  time  to  time ; 
and  so  all  persons  chosen  as  above  said  to  make  good  the  said  number  of  three, 
shall  be  deemed  and  taken  to  be  the  assigns  of  the  said  William  Weeden,  Philip 
Smith  and  Richard  Bailey,  and  none  other;  which  said  persons  and  their  assigns, 
from  time  to  time,  chosen  and  succeeding  as  above  said,  shall  be  seized  of  the  said 
farm  and  land  called  The  Neck,  to  the  use  and  uses  following  forever;  that  is  to  say, 
faithfully  and  truly  to  distribute  and  dispose  of  the  rent  and  profit  of  my  said  farm 
and  land,  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,  or  bringing  up  children  unto  learning,  from  time 
to  time,  forever,  according  to  such  instructions  as  I  shall  give  unto  them,  bearing 
even  date  with  these  presents."  Which  instructions  are  in  these  words  viz.,  "That 
in  the  disposal  of  that  which  the  Lord  hath  bestowed  on  me,  and  I  have  now  be- 
trusted  you  with,  you  and  your  successors,  shall  have  special  regard  and  care,  to 
provide  tor  those  that  fear  the  Lord;  and  in  all  things,  and  at  all  times,  so  to  dis- 
charge the  trust  which  I  have  reposed  in  you,  as  may  be  most  for  the  glory  of  the 
Most  High,  and  the  good  and  benefit  of  those  for  whom  it  is  by  me  expressly  de- 
lignecL  John  Clarke." 

His  estate  was  appraised  at  one  thousand  and  eighty  pounds,  twelve  shillings,  by 
James  Barker,  Thomas  Ward,  and  Philip  Edes,  who  made  oath  to  the  inventory  May 


1.1677.]  CODDINGTON'S  LETTER  AGAINST  WILLIAMS.  353 

observation  was  remarkably  verified  this  year.  For  beside 
those  already  named,  Mr.  Mark  Luker,  an  ancient  member, 
and  a  ruling  Elder  of  Mr.  Clarke's  church,  died  the  De- 
cember after  him,  leaving  the  character  of  a  very  worthy 
walker. 

About  the  beginning  of  1677,  came  out  Mr.  Williams's  ac- 
count of  his  dispute  with  the  Quakers,  upon  which  Mr.  Cod- 
dington  wrote  over  to  his  friend  Fox,  and  said  : — 

Here  is  a  lying,  scandalous  book  of  Roger  Williams,  of  Providence, 

printed   at  Cambridge,  in  New  England I  have  known   him  about 

fifty  years  ;  a  mere  weathercock  ;  constant  only  in  inconstancy  ;  poor  man  ! 
that  doth  not  know  what  should  become  of  his  soul,  if  this  night  it  should 
be  taken  from  him.  He  was  for  the  priests,  and  took  up  their  principles  to 
fight  against  the  truth,  and  to  gratify  them  and  bad  magistrates,  that  licked 
up  hi3  vomit,  and  wrote  the  said  scurrilous  book  ;  and  so  hath  transgressed 
for  a  piece  of  bread.  And  so  are  all  joined  with  the  red  dragon  to  pour 
out  their  flood  against  the  man-child.  Into  their  secrets  let  not  my  soul 
come  ;  my  honor  be  not  thou  united.  Dear  G.  F.,  I  may  yet  more  prove 
what  I  have  said.  One  while  he  is  a  Separatist  at  New  Plymouth,  joining 
with  them  till  they  are  weary  of  him  (as  from  Morton's  Memorial,  in  print, 
doth  appear  ;)  another  time  you  may  have  him  placed  a  teacher  or  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  at  Salem.  O,  then  a  great  deal  of  devotion  is  pleaded 
in  women  wearing  of  vails  in  their  assemblies,  as  if  the  power  of  godli- 
ness was  in  it ;  and  to  have  the  cross  out  of  the  colors ;  and  then  to  be 
against  the  king's  patent  and  authority,  and  writeth  a  large  book  in  quarto 
against  it.  And  another  time  he  is  hired  for  money,  and  gets  a  patent 
from  the  Long  Parliament,  so  that  it  is  not  long  but  he  is  off  and  on  it 
again.  One  time  for  men's  wearing  caps,  and  not  hats  for  covering  their 
faces  ;  and  again,  hats  aud  no  caps  ;  one  time  for  water  baptism,  men  and 
women  must  be  plunged  into  the  water  ;  and  then  throw  it  all  down  again  ; 

17,  1666.  Said  farm  and  Neck  they  appraised  at  five  hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  and 
its  late  annual  income  has  been  two  hundred  and  twenty  dollars ;  as  the  honorable 
Josias  Lyndon,  Esq.,  one  of  the  assigns,  informs  me ;  who  says,  the  first  assigns 
being  Mr.  Clarke's  intimate  friends,  were  informed  by  him,  that  his  intent  was  to 
provide  for  religious  as  well  as  civil  instruction,  though  he  did  not  insert  the  word 
ministry,  lest  the  national  clergy  should  lay  claim  to  it.  Therefore  part  of  said  profits 
have  been  improved  to  maintain  religious  teaching  in  that  church  ever  since.  Com- 
plaint was  made  in  1721,  that  one  of  these  assigns  was  unfaithful  in  his  trust,  which 
caused  the  Assembly  to  take  the  case  in  hand ;  who  at  length  made  a  law  to  empower 
the  Town  Council  in  each  town  to  enquire  how  all  charitable  donations  therein  were 
managed,  and  by  a  jury  of  twelve  men,  upon  oath,  to  assess  damages  upon  delin- 
quents;  to  whom  therefore  the  assigns  above-said  have  annually  been  accountable 
ever  since. 

23 


354  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW    ENGLAND. 

so  that  Cotton  (who  in  his  day  did  kuow  the  power  of  God  to  salva- 
tion) said  of  him,  that  lie  was  a  harberdasher  of  small  questions  against 
the  power.  So  they  ought  to  have  feared  God  and  the  king,  that  is  to  pun- 
ish evil  doers  ;  and  therefore  not  to  meddle  to  their  hurt,  with  him  that  is 
given  to  change. 

He  goes  on  to  say  he  was  credibly  informed  that  Governor 
Leverett  said  he  would  give  twenty  pounds,  and  Governor 
Winslow  five  pounds,  rather  than  that  book  should  not  be 
printed.  Scott's  ietter,  which  is  mentioned  in  page  89,  was 
also  written  on  this  occasion,  wherein,  after  accusing  Mr. 
Williams  of  acting  contrary  to  his  own  principle  of  liberty 
of  conscience,  he  says  : — 

Witness  his  presenting  of  it  to  the  Court  at  Newport ;  and  when  this 
would  not  take  effect,  afterwards  when  the  Commissioners  were  two  of 
them  at  Providence,  being  in  the  house  of  Thomas  Olney,  senior,  Roger 
Williams  propounded  this  question  to  them  : — We  have  a  people  here  among 
us,  who  will  not  act  in  our  government  with  us  ;  what  course  shall  we  take 
with  them?  George  Cartwright,  one  of  the  Commissioners,  asked  him 
what  manner  of  persons  they  were  ?  Do  they  live  quietly  and  peaceably 
amongst  you  ?  This  they  could  not  deny.  Then  he  made  this  answer,  If 
they  can  govern  themselves,  they  have  no  need  of  your  government ;  at 
which  they  were  silent.  This  was  told  again  by  a  woman  of  the  house 
where  the  speech  was  spoken,  to  another  woman,  whom  the  complaint,  with 
the  rest,  was  made  against,  who  related  it  to  me  ;  but  they  are  both  dead, 
and  cannot  bear  witness  with  me,  to  what  was  spoken  there.1 

These  letters  being  sent  over  with  the  book  to  Fox,  he, 
wTith  John  Burnyeat,  published  them,  with  an  answer  to  Wil- 
liams, in  1678,  which  they  entitled,  A  New  England  Fire- 
brand Quenched.  Fox's  former  book  in  folio,  Williams  says, 
was  written  against  about  six  score  authors  and  papers,  to 
which  Edward  Burroughs  wrote  a  preface  ;  and  some  things 
that  they  said  in  the  dispute,  turned  his  thoughts  so,  as  from 
those  names  he  called  his  work,  George  Fox  digged  out  of 
his  Burroughs.  Such  titles  were  more  common  in  that  day 
than  ours, but  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  justify  them,  nor  a  great 
deal  of  the  language  that  was  used  on  both  sides.  What  I 
am  concerned  with  is  fact  and  not  language.  As  Mr.  Wil- 
cox, Part  Second,  pp.  245,  248. 


[1677.]  CONTROVERSY  BETWEEN  WILLIAMS  AND  FOX.  355 

liams  had  occasion  to  vindicate  many  things  in  the  writings 
of  Mr.  Bichard  Baxter,  Dr.  John  Owen,  and  others  that  Fox 
had  written  against,  whom  Williams  calls  pious  and  learned 
men  ;  he  prefixed  a  particular  address  to  them,  in  which  he 
says  : — 

As  to  matters  in  difference  between  yourselves  and  me,  I  have  williDgly 
omitted  them,  as  knowing  that  many  able  and  honest  seamen  in  their  obser- 
vations of  the  sun,  (one  picture  of  Christ  Jesus)  differ  sometimes  in  their 
reckonings,  though  uprightly  aiming  at,  and  bound  for  one  port  and  har- 
bor. I  humbly  beg  of  you,  1.  That  you  will  more  and  more  earnestly, 
candidly  and  Christianly  study  the  things  that  differ  without  reflecting  upon 
credit,  maintenance,  liberty,  and  life  itself,  remembering  who  it  was  that 
said,  He  that  loves  his  life  shall  lose  it.  2.  More  and  more  study  the  pro- 
phesies and  the  signs  of  the  times.  You  know  when  it  was  that  five  bish- 
ops, tweuty-two  ministers,  and  almost  three  hundred  other  precious  believ- 
ers in  the  true  Lord  Jesus,  were  sacrificed  in  the  flames,  for  his  ever 
blessed  sake,  against  that  monstrous  man  of  sin  and  bloody  whore  of 
Rome.  These  Foxians' fancy  is  but  a  feather  to  those  high  Pico's  and  Ten- 
ariffs,  the  Pope  and  Mahomet,  whom  some  of  you  may  live  to  see  flung 
into  the  lake  that  burtLS  with  fire  and  brimstone. 

To  this  they  answer  and  say : — 

Here  you  may  see,  though  there  is,  and  hath  been,  great  difference 
betwixt  R.  W.,  R.  B.  and  J.  O.,1  yet  all  these  have  written  against  God's 

people,  that  are  in  the  truth But  it  is  well  if  they  come  to  repentance 

for  what  they  have  done,  for  imprisoning  and  persecuting  us,  when  they 
had  both  the  sword  and  the  bag.  And  so  R.  W.  and  the  rest  of  the  Xew 
England  priests,  have  been  one  with  them  in  the  spirit  of  envy  and  malice 
against  the  people  of  God,  like  the  wily  foxes,  whose  blood  lieth  at  all  your 

doors All  may  see  what   a  devilish  and   unchristian  mind  is  in  this 

R.  W.  whose  desires  are  to  R.  B.  and  J.  O.,  that  they  may  see  Mahomet, 
and  the  Turk,  and  the  whore  of  Rome,  and  us,  (that  he  joins  with  them) 
flung  into  the  lake  of  fire.2 

And  in  answer  to  his  attempt  to  prove  that  pride  about 
spiritual  matters  was  the  root  and  branch  of  their  religion 
they  say  : — 

Roger,  this  is  their  condition,  and  the  Xew  England  priests'  and  profes- 
sors'. Oh  !  that  your  eyes  were  open  that  you  might  see  it !  and  so  what 
thou  measurest  to  others,  it  will  be  measured  to  thee  again,  pressed  down 

^oger  Williams,  Eichard  Baxter  and  John  Owen. — Ed. 
*Fox,  pp.  11,  12. 


356  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  running  over ;  and  the  god  of  the  world  will  fail  thee  in  thy  proofs 
and  hath  failed  thee  ;  as  he  did  thy1  mother  Eve,  and  thy  father  Adam. 
For  this  is  the  mouth  of  the  pit,  that  thou  speakest  of,  and  Lucifer's  boast 
in  thee  agaiust  the  children  of  the  Lord,  that  are  daily  in  jeopardy  of  their 
lives,  and  some  of  them  have  lost  their  lives  amongst  you  in  New  Eng- 
land, in  obedience  to  the  command  of  Christ  their  Saviour.  And  we  know 
they  hated  Christ  our  Lord  and  Master  without  a  cause,  and  so  you  do  us. 
But  ft.  W.  may  say,  he  doth  not  persecute  with  his  hands  ;  but  let  him  read 
page  200  of  his  book,  wherein  he  declares  himself,  that  a  due  and  moder- 
ate restraint  he  would  have  inflicted  upon  us,  yea,  through  pretending  con- 
science ;  and  he  would  not  have  this  called  persecution.  But  would  K.  W. 
be  so  served  himself  ?  No,  but  now  he  lives  in  a  peaceable  government, 
where  he  cannot  exercise  his  cruelty,  and  he  hath  not  the  sword  in  his 
hand,  but  is  in  a  restless  spirit,  who  grudgeth  at  the  liberty  of  others,  and 
cannot  be  content  with  his  own. 

Again,  they  mention  his  plea  for  liberty  against  the  bloody 
tenet,  in  1652,  and  say: — 

But  R.  W.  is  fallen  from  that  plea,  who  now  desireth  the  magistrates  to 
psrsecute  us,  &c,  and  it  must  not  be  called  persecution  neither,  as  in  page 
200,  and  many  things  we  could  bring  out  of  his  former  books,  which  would 
render  him  very  uncertain  ;  but  we  shall  forbear  at  the  present,  and  leave 
him  to  the  Lord,  for  his  books  declare,  themselves,  what  he  said  then,  and 
what  he  saith  now.  But  the  reader  may  see  how  R.  W.  hath  invented  and 
forged  many  words  against  us,  the  people  of  God,  in  scorn  called  Quakers, 
which  we  never  spoke  nor  wrote.2 

They  refer  to  that  page,  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  their 
book,  to  prove  him  a  persecutor ;  and  when  the  Magnalia 
came  out  in  1702,  John  Whiting  wrote  an  answer  the  next 
year,  wherein  he  said  of  the  author,  "  He  compares  Roger 
Williams  to  a  wind-mill,  that  by  his  rapid  motion  was  like 
to  set  the  whole  country  on  fire,  ....  yet  commends  him, 
though  such  a  wind-mill,  for  his  opposition  against  the  Qua- 
kers ;  .  .  .  .  but  that  haberdasher  of  small  questions  against 
the  power  of  godliness,  as  their  great  Cotton  called  him,  was 
answered  by  George  Fox  and  John  Burnycat,  in  another 
book  entitled,  A  New  England  Firebrand  Quenched.''3  Joseph 

'Why  not  my? 

"Fox,  pp.  10,  11,  Part  Second,  p.  212.     In  pp.  241,  and  242  they  repeat  their  ref- 
erence to  that  page,  in  like  manner. 
'Whiting  against  Mather,  pp.  55,  66. 


[1677.]  CHARGES  AGAINST  MR.  WILLIAMS,  EXAMINED.  357 

Grove  published  his  Abridgment  of  Bishop,  with  notes,  the 
same  year.  And  against  where  Bishop  had  mentioned  Mr. 
Norton,  Grove  says,  "  This  is  that  priest  Norton,  whom  Cot- 
ton Mather,  in  his  late  History  of  New  England,  so  much 
commends,  and  with  his  brother  in  iniquity,  John  Wilson, 
ranks  with  John  Cotton,  a  man  of  a  better  spirit  in  his 
day."1 

Thus  both  parties  could  extol  Mr.  Cotton,  while  they 
vented  their  resentment  against  Mr.  Williams  at  a  high  rate  ; 
and  by  these  means,  and  by  some  connection  with  the  Cod- 
dington  family,  Mr.  Callender,  in  his  Century  Sermon,  scru- 
pled to  own  him  for  a  Baptist,2  and  in  the  dedication  of  it, 
set  Mr.  Coddington  up  as  the  main  founder  and  supporter  of 
that  colony.  Though  by  his  papers,  I  find  he  was  after- 
wards convinced  of  his  error  herein.  And  let  us  now  exam- 
ine the  evidences  referred  to,  to  prove  those  dreadful  charges 
against  Mr.  Williams. 

1.  Morton  does  not  represent  that  the  people  were  weary 
of  him  at  Plymouth,  but  that  they  were  backward  to  grant 
his  request  of  a  dismission  to  Salem,  though  their  elder  pre- 

!Bishop,  p.  124.— B. 

The  above  sentence  misplaces  the  names  Norton  and  Wilson.  It  should  read  as 
follows  : — "And  against  where  Bishop  had  mentioned  Mr.  Wilson,  Grove  says,  '  This 
is  that  priest  Wilson,  whom  Cotton  Mather,  in  his  late  History  of  New  England,  so 
much  commends,  and,  with  his  brother  in  iniquity,  John  Norton,"'  &c. — Ed. 

2Callender  says,  "Mr.  Roger  Williams  is  said,  in  a  few  years  after  his  settling  at 
Providence,  to  have  embraced  the  opinions  of  the  people  called  (Jjy  way  of  reproach) 
Anabaptists,  in  respect  to  the  subject  and  mode  of  baptism;  and  to  have  formed  a 
church  there,  in  that  way,  with  the  help  of  one  Mr.  Ezekiel  Holliman."  To  this  he 
adds  a  note,  as  follows  : — "  Since  this  was  transcribed  for  the  press,  I  find  some  rea- 
sons to  suspect  that  Mr.  Williams  did  not  form  a  church  of  the  Anabaptists,  and  that 
he  never  joined  with  the  Baptist  church  there.  Only,  that  he  allowed  them  to  be 
nearest  the  Scripture  rule,,  and  true  primitive  practice,  as  to  the  mode  and  subject 
of  baptism;  but  that  he  himself  waited  for  new  apostles,  &c.  The  most  ancient  in- 
habitants now  alive,  some  of  them  above  eighty  years  old,  who  personally  knew  Mr . 
Williams,  and  were  well  acquainted  with  many  of  the  original  settlers,  never  heard 
that  Mr.  Williams  formed  a  Baptist  church  there,  but  always  understood  that  Mr. 
Browne,  Mr.  Wickenden  or  Wiginton,  Mr.  Dexter,  Mr.  Olney,  Mr.  Tillinghast,  &c, 
were  the  first  founders  of  the  church."  Upon  these  words,  Elton  quotes  from  Mor- 
gan Edwards,  "I  have  one  of  the  Century  Sermons  of  Mr.  Callender,  with  a  dele 
upon  this  note,  in  his  own  hand- writing."  Century  Sermon,  Rhode  Island  Histori- 
cal Collection,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  109, 110 ;  Materials  for  a  History  of  the  Baptists,  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  VI,  p.  303.— Ed. 


358  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IX  NEW  ENGLAND. 

vailed  with  them  to  do  it  ;l  and  Governor  Bradford  blessed 
God  for  the  good  effects  of  his  ministry  many  years  after  he 
was  banished.2  2.  Like  those  he  calls  Xew  England  priests, 
Coddington  tries  to  draw  women's  veils,  and  men's  hats  and 
caps  over  people's  eyes,  to  prevent  a  just  view  of  those  af- 
fairs. Mr.  Hubbard  speaks  of  those  veils,  as  the  first  arti- 
cle in  his  account  of  the  causes  of  Mr.  Williams's  banish- 
ment, though  be  is  so  honest  as  to  let  us  know,  that  it  was 
Mr.  Skelton  who  introduced  the  custom  at  Salem,  which  Mr. 
Williams  only  concurred  with  ;  and  Governor  Hutchinson 
shows,  that  Mr.  Cotton  had  spoken  in  favor  of  that  mode  of 
dress  in  England  ;  but  now  he  went  to  Salem,  and  preached 
the  people  out  of  conceit  of  it.  And  among  all  Mr.  Wil- 
liams's numerous  writings,  I  have  not  met  with  any  thing 
about  it ;  no,  nor  about  his  hat  or  cap,  though  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Eecords,  I  find  that  the  year  before  they  banished 
him,  when  Coddington  was  both  a  magistrate  and  their 
Treasurer,  they  made  a  law  against  superfluous  and  expen- 
sive fashions,  wherein  they  prohibited  the  making  or  wear- 
ing of  beaver  hats  upon  penalty  of  forfeiting  of  them  if 
they  did.  3.  As  to  the  cross  in  the  military  colors,  which 
Hutchinson  also  names  as  a  sufficient  ground  for  the  author- 
ity to  take  hold  of  Mr.  Williams,  it  is  certain  from  Win- 
throp,  Hubbard,  and  the  Colony  Records,  that  the  Assembly 
took  hold  of  Endicott,  and  not  Williams,  for  that  act,  and 
put  him  out  of  all  office  for  one  year  therefor  ;  and  the  Mag- 
nalia  assures  us,  that  the  scruple  about  that  popish  sign  pre- 
vailed in  their  colony  after  Mr.  Williams  was  gone  out  of 

l"  He  desired  his  dismission  to  the  church  of  Salem;  which,  though  some  were 
unwilling  to,  yet,  through  the  prudent  counsel  of  Mr.  Brewster,  the  ruling  elder 
there,  fearing  that  his  continuance  amongst  them  might  cause  divisions,  and  there 
being  many  abler  men  in  the  Bay,  they  would  better  deal  with  him  than  themselves 
could,  and  foreseeing  what  he  prophesied  he  feared  concerning  Mr.  Williams,  which 
afterwards  came  to  past,  that  he  would  run  the  same  course  of  rigid  separation  and 
anabaptistry  which  Mr.  John  Smith,  the  Se-Baptist  at  Amsterdam  had  done,  the 
church  of  Plymouth  consented  to  his  dismission,"     MortonV  Memorial,  p.  102. — Ed. 

•See  page  41. 


[1677.]  CHARGES  AGAINST  MR.  WILLIAMS,  EXAMINED.  359 

it.1  4.  Upon  the  affairs  of  the  patent.  Coddington  artfully 
slips  in  the  word  "  authority"  willing,  with  his  friend  Cotton, 
to  have  Williams  appear  as  a  rebel  against  the  king.  We 
learn  from  Governor  Winthrop,  that  Mr.  Williams  first  wrote 
upon  that  subject  at  Plymouth,  and  after  he  came  to  Salem, 
the  Court  called  for  a  copy  of  it,  which  he  granted  them, 
and  then,  near  the  close  of  1633,  they  had  him  before  them  ; 
but  he  gave  them  such  satisfaction  about  it,  that  they  dis- 
missed him  ;  yet  they  afterward  brought  in  and  reexamined 
that  matter,  as  one  cause  of  his  banishment.2  5.  By  the 
foregoing  history,  the  reader  may  see  with  what  grace  the 
Quakers  could  accuse  Mr.  Williams  of  being  mercenary  or 
hired  for  money,  in  procuring  their  first  charter.  And  I  find 
that  when  he  was  setting  off  upon  his  second  agency,  to  get 
Mr.  Coddington's  commission  revoked,  he,  on  September  3, 
1651,  sold  his  trading  house  and  interest  in  Narragansett,  for 
fifty  pounds,  to  Mr.  Kichard  Smith.3  His  great  crime  there- 
fore, was  his  advancing  such  questions  as  he  did,  against  the 
power  ;  which,  in  plain  terms,  was  a  power  to  frame  to  them- 
selves a  gospel  and  a  Christ  without  the  cross  ;  a  power  to 
suspend  obedience  to  what  they  looked  upon  to  be  truth 
in  England,  and  to  compel  others  to  their  judgments,  when 
they  had  got  out  of  the  prelates'  reach  ;  yea,  a  power  to  con- 
firm and  support  such  corruptions  by  oaths,  both  there  and 
here.4 

Mr.  Williams  says  : — 

Cases  have  befallen  myself  in  the  chancery  in  England,  &c,  of  the  loss 
of  great  sums,  which  I  chose  to  bear,  through  the  Lord's  help,  rather  than 
yield  to  the  formality  (then  and  still  in  use)  in  God's  worship,  though  I 
offered  to  swear  in  weighty  cases,  by  the  name  of  God,  as  in  the  presence 
of  God,  and  to  attest  or  call  God  to  witness  ;  and  the  judges  told  me  they 
would  rest  in  my  testimony  and  way  of  swearing,  but  they  could  not  dis- 
pense with  me  without  an  act  of  parliament.5 

'Book  7,  p.  11.  [Vol.  II,  pp.  433— 435.]— B. 

The  Magnalia  also  states  that  Mr.  Williams  was  "  but  obliquely  and  remotely  con- 
cerned "  with  this  matter.     Ibid,  p.  433.— Ed. 
2Williams's  reply  to  Cotton,  p.  277.     3Newport  Records. 
4See  page  56.  5  Against  the  Quakers,  Appendix,  pp.  59,  60. 


360  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

And  in  the  face  of  all  their  reproaches,  I  am  bold  in  it, 
that  I  know  not  of  one  Paedobaptist  or  Quaker,  that  came 
to  this  country  in  that  age,  who  acted  so  consistently  and 
steadily  upon  right  principles  about  government  and  liberty, 
as  Mr.  Williams  did  ;  neither  do  I  think  that  they  had,  or 
have,  any  cause  to  glory  over  him  as  to  religion.  Though 
Mr.  Cotton  represented  it  as  a  mere  pretence  for  him  to  tell 
of  church  government,  when  he  did  not  join  fully  with  any 
church  that  was  then  extant,  yet  he  replies  and  says  : — 

The  institution  of  any  [state]  government  and  order  is  one  thing,  and 
the  administration  and  execution,  which  may  be  interrupted  and  eclipsed, 
is  auother.  [Indeed]  Jeremiah  could  not  rightly  have  been  judged  a  pre- 
tender, when  he  mourned  for  and  lamented  the  desolations  of  the  temple, 
priests,  elders,  altar  and  sacrifices  ;  aud  neither  he  nor  Daniel,  nor  any  of 
God's  [prophets  or]  servants,  could,  during  the  desolation  and  captivity, 
acknowledge  either  temple  [or]  altar,  or  sacrifice  aright,   extant  upon  the 

face  of  the  earth Although  the  discusser  be  not  satisfied   in  the  period 

of  the  times,  and  the  manner  of  Christ's  [his]  glorious  appearing,  yet  his 
soul  uprightly  desires  to  see  ard  adore,  and  to  be  thankful  to  Master  Cot- 
ton, yea  to  the  least  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  for  any  coal  or  spark  of 
true  light,  among  so  many  false  and  pretended  caudles  and  candlesticks.1 

Now  as  no  man  was  permitted  by  Ezra,  to  officiate  as  a 
priest  at  God's  altar,  but  those  who  could  find  their  register 
of  a  lawful  descent  from  Aaron,  and  the  church  had  been 
through  a  more  terrible  captivity  in  mystical  Babylon, 
between  the  apostolic  age  and  that  we  are  upon,  than  the 
Jews  had  in  Chaldea  ;  how  could  a  man,  so  honest  as  Mr. 
Williams  was,  receive  any  man  to  administer  the  ordinance 
of  the  Supper  to  him,  who  could  not  produce  a  register  of 
his  succession  from  the  apostles  P  I  know  of  no  other  con- 
sistent way,  to  get  over  this  difficulty  but  this  ;  that  as  the 
lawful  seed  of  Aaron  were  to  govern  in  the  Jewish  church, 
so  are  the  spiritual  seed  of  Christ  to  govern  in  his  church, 
into  which  none  ought  to  be  admitted,  without  gospel  evi- 
dence of  their  being  such  ;  and  it  seems  that  Mr.  Williams 
had  not  attained  to  a  clear  settlement  in  this  point.     But  in 

'Reply  to  Cotton,  pp.  106,  107.  2See  page  91. 


[1677.]  CHARGES  AGAINST  MR.  WILLIAMS,  EXAMINED.  361 

my  opinion  his  greatest  mistake,  when  he  first  came  to  this 
country  was,  his  blending  the  duties  of  natural  and  revealed 
religion  too  much  together.  The  light  of  nature  teaches  the 
importance  of  seeking  to  God  for  what  we  need,  and  of 
praising  him  for  what  we  receive ;  which  duties  ought  to 
be  inculcated  upon  all  men,  as  much  as  love  to  God  or  our 
neighbors ;  while  the  revealed  institutions  of  baptism  and 
the  supper,  are  tokens  of  fellowship  with  Christ,  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  our  duty  to  perform  before  we  are  united  to 
him.  Psalms,  107;  Acts  17.  27;  Eom.  1.  20,  21,  and  6, 
3 — 5  ;  I  Cor.  10.  16.  But  for  a  while,  Mr.  Williams  seemed 
to  limit  these  two  kinds  of  duties  alike  to  the  regenerate. 
It  is  also  well  known,  that  the  divine  rule  is  perfect,  but 
that  the  best  of  men  in  this  state  are  imperfect,  and  how 
far  we  are  to  exercise  forbearance,  and  how  far  not,  has  not 
been  an  easy  question  to  the  most  enlightened  saints  ;  yet 
Mr.  Williams's  grand  crime  in  the  view  of  both  of  these 
parties,  was  because  he  would  not  yield  to  their  power  in 
this  matter.  The  passage  the  Quakers  so  often  appealed 
to,  as  an  evidence  of  his  being  a  bloody  persecutor,  is  as 
follows : — 

An  author  had  said,  "The  Quakers' spirit  doth  teach  them 
to  honor  no  man."     Upon  which  Fox  said : — 

"  That  is  a  lie  ;  for  it  teacheth  them  to  have  all  men  in  esteem  and  to 
honor  all  men  in  the  Lord  ;  yet  they  are  convinced  by  the  law  as  trans- 
gressors if  they  respect  men's  persons  as  you  do. 

In  reply  to  which  Mr.  Williams  says: — 

All  men  may  see  how  truly  they  honor  all  in  the  Lord,  and  what  Lord  they 
mean,  when  his  first  word  to  his  opposite  is  that  most  provoking  term, 
That  is  a  lie.  It  is  true  that  Christ  Jesus  and  his  servants,  used  sharp 
reproofs,  similitudes,  &c,  but  thus  suddenly,  at  the  first  dash,  to  give  fire, 
Thou  liest,  That  is  a  lie,  &c,  shows  neither  religion  nor  civility,  but  a 
barbarous  spirit,  for  they  that  know  the  barbarians,  know  how  common 

that  word  is  in  all  their  mouths The  most  Holy  and  only  Wise  knows 

how  proudly  and  simply  and  barbarously  they  have  run  into  uncivil  and 
inhuman  behavior  towards  all  their  superiors,  the  eldest  and  highest,  how 
they  have  declared  by  principle  and  practice,  that  there  are  no  men  to  be 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

respected  in  the  world  but  themselves,  as  being  Gods  and  Christs.  It  is 
true  our  English  Bibles  and  grammar  (as  Fox  in  his  great  learning  often 
objects)  makes  Thou  to  a  single  person  ;  and  Thou  in  Holy  Scripture  is 
used  in  a  grave  and  respective  way  unto  superiors,  unto  kings  and  parents, 
and  God  himself.  But,  1.  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  siguify  no  more  Thou 
thau  You,  and  so  may  be  truly  turned.  2,  Every  nation,  every  shire, 
every  calling,  have  their  particular  properties  or  idioms  of  speech,  which 
are  improper  and  ridiculous  with  others.  Hence  these  simple  reformers  are 
extremely  ridiculous  in  giving  Thou  and  Thee  to  every  body,  which  our 
nation  commonly  gives  to  familiars  only  ;  and  they  are  insufferably  proud 
and  contemptuous  unto  all  their  superiors  in  using  Thou  to  every  body, 
which  our  English  idiom  or  propriety  of  speech,  useth  in  a  way  of  famil- 
iarity, or  anger,  scorn  and  contempt.  I  have  therefore  publicly  declared 
myself,  that  a  due  and  moderate  restraint,  and  punishing  of  these  incivili- 
ties, (though  pretending  conscience)  is  so  far  from  persecution,  (properly 
so  called)  that  it  is  a  duty  and  command  of  God  unto  all  mankind,  first 
in  families,  and  thence  into  all  humau  societies.1 

This  is  all  the  passage  in  his  whole  book  that  speaks  in 
favor  of  punishing  Quakers  ;  and  compared  with  the  in- 
stance of  Norton's  incivilities  to  Governor  Prince2  and  others, 
and  observing  that  the  emphasis  lies  upon  their  manner  of 
using  those  words,  the  reader  will  judge,  whether  a  moder- 
ate punishing  of  the  same,  is  any  ways  inconsistent  with  Mr. 
Williams's  plea  for  liberty,  against  Mr.  Cotton.  As  to  his 
practice,  we  learn  expressly  that  the  instance  Scott  refers  to 
at  Newport,  was  that  of  Harris,  at  the  election,  in  1655.3 
And  though  he  and  Mr.  Coddington  submitted  to  Mr.  Wil- 
liams's government  the  next  year,  (a  few  months  before  the 
Quakers  arrived)  yet,  after  that,  they  and  others  became  so 

'Williams,  pp.  199,  200.— B. 

In  some  parts  of  England,  the  pronoun  of  the  second  person,  singular,  is  em- 
ployed, as  is  the  case  in  the  German  language,  only  in  addressing  those  with 
whom  the  speaker  is  most  intimate  and  familiar;  and  to  use  it  in  addressing  others, 
and  especially  superiors,  would  be,  not  merely  eccentric  but  highly  disrespectful. 
There  seems  to  have  been  something  of  this  idiom  in  the  New  England   colonies. 

The  explanation  which  Backus  proceeds  to  give  of  the  above-cited  words  of  Wil- 
liams, is  undoubtedly  correct,  that  it  was  not  the  mere  use  of  Thet  and  Thou,  by 
Quakers,  which  he  thought  proper  to  restrain,  but  such  language  to  Magistrates  as 
they  hid  been  often  known  to  employ,  plainly  intended  to  express  irreverence  and 
disrespect. — Ed. 

"See  page  256.— Ed.  3See  page  241.— Ed. 


[1677.]         RELATION  OF  QUAKERS  TO  THE  GOVERNMENT.  363 

spiritual  as  to  refuse  to  act  therein.  This,  it  seems,  caused 
Mr.  Williams  to  ask  Mr.  Cartwright  what  they  should  do 
with  them,  which,  in  their  view,  was  another  proof  of  his 
persecuting  disposition.  In  1665  their  Assembly  framed  an 
engagement  to  the  government,  which  they  hoped  those 
men  would  have  taken,  and  so  have  come  in  to  act  with 
them  again  ;  but  in  March,  1666,  they  pleaded  that  they 
could  not  in  conscience  do  it,  and  prevailed  with  the  Assem- 
bly to  make  a  law,  to  allow  those  who  pleaded  that  they 
could  not  in  conscience  take  either  that  engagement  or  the 
oath  of  allegiance  in  England,  to  make  their  submission  to 
the  government,  either  before  the  Court  or  before  two  mag- 
istrates, in  their  own  words,  instead  of  any  that  others  could 
frame  for  them.  And  no  sooner  was  this  point  gained,  than, 
at  the  election  in  May  ensuing,  they  got  in  a  Quaker  Deputy 
Governor,  and  three  magistrates ;  two  of  the  latter  being 
Coddington  and  Harris  ;x  Harris   was  in  the  same  office  in 

1667,  when,  on  July  2,  he  procured  an  extraordinary  meet- 
ing of  the  Assembly,  to  try  Mr.  Fenner,  (another  magis- 
trate,) for  a  rout  which  Harris  had  charged  him  with  making 
in  Providence,  on  June  3.  But  the  Assembly  acquitted 
Fenner,  and  fined  Harris  fifty  pounds,  and  put  him  out  of 
office,  choosing  Stephen  Arnold  in  his  stead.  The  next  fall 
he  was  fined  ten  shillings  for  breach  of  peace,  and  bound  to 
his  good  behavior.     Yet  he  had  influence  enough  in  May, 

1668,  to  get  again  into  the  magistracy,  and  in  the  fall  to 
have  his  fifty  pounds  remitted.  He  was  likewise  in  the  same 
office  in  1669  ;  and  as  Connecticut  then  revived  their  claim 
to  the  Narragansett  country,  he  eagerly  turned  to  assist  them, 
hoping,  doubtless,  to  share  largely  therein,  if  they  pre- 
vailed. 

It  seems  that  the  agents  who  procured  their  charters, 
agreed  that  some  persons  living  near  Mr.  Smith's  trading 
house  in  Narragansett,  should  have  liberty  to  choose  which 

xMr.  Backus  afterwards  became  convinced  that  Harris  was  not  a  Quaker.     See 
Appendix  A.,  atthe  close  of  this  volume. — Ed. 


364  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

government  they  would  be  under ;  therefore  from  thence, 
and  from  the  words  of  Connecticut  charter,  they  set  out 
afresh  to  grasp  all  that  country  to  themselves.  Aud  for  that 
end  they  would  come  over  from  Stonington  and  knock  Wes- 
terly people  down,  and  carry  them  off  to  jail,  and  persisted 
long  in  those  encroachments,  against  the  remonstrances  of 
the  authority  of  Rhode  Island  colony  ;  one  of  which  they 
sent  by  Mr.  John  Crandal  to  Hartford,  in  May,  1671.  The 
Assembly  at  the  same  time  made  choice  of  Mr.  Clarke  as 
their  agent,  to  go  again  to  England  upon  the  affair ;  though, 
after  repeated  applications  to  Connecticut  Court,  such  a  pros- 
pect appeared  of  having  the  matter  settled  by  treaty,  that 
they  revoked  that  appointment  the  next  year.  But  Harris, 
finding  that  the  king's  words  in  their  charter  had  most  ex- 
plicitly fixed  Paucatuck  River  as  the  bounds  betwixt  the  two 
colonies,  openly  attacked  the  validity  of  the  charter,  because 
therein  the  king  had  granted  full  religious  liberty,  notwith- 
standing the  penal  laws  in  England.  Upon  which  Harris  de- 
clared, "  that  the  king  cannot  dispense  with  the  penal  laws 
on  the  consciences  of  his  subjects,  papists  or  protestants,  at 
home  or  abroad. "  Their  rulers  then  were  Benedict  Arnold, 
Governor;  John  Clarke,  Deputy  Governor;  John  Cranston, 
John  Coggshall,  James  Barker,  William  Carpenter,  Thomas 
Harris,  Roger  Williams,  William  Baulston,  John  Albro, 
John  Green,  Benjamin  Smith,  Assistants ;  John  Sanford, 
Recorder ;  James  Rogers,  General  Sergeant ;  and  Joseph 
Tory,  Attorney  General.  They  committed  Harris  to  prison 
for  denying  the  king's  authority  and  prerogative.  When  the 
Assembly  met  at  Newport,  April  2,  1672,  he  presented  a  pe- 
tition to  them  by  the  hand  of  a  Quaker,  but,  because  "  not 
directed  in  those  words  which  his  Majesty,  in  his  gracious 
charter,  hath  pleased  to  give  the  title  unto  the  corporation, 
[viz.,  His  Majesty's  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,  &c.,"]  the  Assembly  voted  not  to  take  cognizance 
of  it.1     At  their  election  the  next  month,  they  chose  the  first 

'Colony  Records, 


[1677.]  WILLIAMS  AT  THE  QUAKER  ASSEMBLY.  365 

Quaker  Governor1  they  ever  had  in  that  colony ;  and  Mr.  Wil- 
liams says,  "  The  Quakers  prevailing,  Harris,  by  their 
means  gets  loose."2  These  facts  I  have  carefully  collected 
from  their  colony  records,  compared  with  Mr.  Williams's  ac- 
count ;  to  which  they  return  no  better  answer  than  to  say, 
"  It  is  like  he  doth  belie  W.  H.  as  he  hath  done  us  ;  and,  for 
thy  story  and  anger  against  William  Harris,  he  is  of  age  and 
able  enough  to  speak  for  himself."3 

Fox  and  other  noted  teachers  of  theirs  were  now  come 
over,  and  gained  many  proselytes  ;  upon  which  Mr.  Williams 
went  to  a  general  meeting  they  had  at  Newport,  and  began 
to  present  to  them  some  considerations  concerning  the  true 
Christ  and  the  false,  the  true  spirit  and  the  false,  but  says, 
"  I  was  cut  off  in  the  midst,  by  the  sudden  prayer  of  one, 
and  singing  of  another,"  &c,  which  is  afterward  explained 
thus,  viz.: — 

I  was  stopped  by  the  sudden  praying  of  the  Governor's  wife,  who  also 
told  me  of  her  asking  her  husband  at  home,  (meaning  Christ,  which  I 
touched  upon).  I  rose  and  said,  if  a  man  had  so  alleged,  I  would  have 
answered  him  ;  but  I  would  not  countenance  the  violation  of  God's  order 
so  much  in  making  a  reply  to  a  woman  in  public.  Hereupon  J.  Nichols 
stood  up  and  said,  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  male  nor  female.  I  was  reply- 
ing to  him  and  to  J.  Bumyeat's  speech  concerning  their  spirit,  but  was 
stopped  by  Burnyeat's  sudden  falling  into  prayer,  and  dismissing  the  assem- 
bly. I  resolved,  with  God's  help,  to  be  patient  and  civil,  and  so  ceased, 
not  seeing  a  willingness  in  them  for  me  to  proceed  ;  which  experience  made 
me  not  trouble  G.  Fox  and  the  assembly  at  Providence,  but  rather  to  make 
a  fair  and  solemn  offer  of  a  dispute  about  these  matters."4 

To  this  they  answer  and  say  : — 

o  here  thou  mayest  see,  it  was  thy  spirit  that  was  cut  by  the  spirit  of 
God,  that  led  them  to  pray  and  sing  in  order,  and  this  thou  callest  Confu- 
sion ;  and  thus  thou  judgest  of  things  thou  knowest  not,  with  thy  doting 
spirit.  For  the  true  Christ  we  know,  who  is  our  Shepherd  ;  and  the  false 
spirit  of  Christ  is  easily  savored  in  thee,  which  was  cut  off  by  the  spirit 
of  prayer,  and  the  spirit  of  singing,  from  the  true  spirit  of  Christ.5 

1  John  Cranston.— Ed.  2Williams,  pp.  14,  206,  207. 

3Fox,  pp.  21,  229.  4Williams,  pp.  2,  12.        5Fox,  p.  17. 


366  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Thus  each  party  call  their  own  way  Order;  but  the  order 
and  decency  which  the  inspired  apostle  enjoined  upon  the 
church  of  Cornith,  concerned  the  behavior  of  their  women 
as  distinguished  from  men  ;  their  women  who  had  hus- 
bands, in  the  plural  number,  who  had  each  a  distinct 
part  to  act  in  divine  worship,  which  they  ought  to  know 
and  attend  unto.  As  all  saints  are  one  in  Christ,  there 
is  but  one  Husband  and  one  bride  ;  and  viewing  things  in 
this  distinct  light,  tends  both  to  purity  and  peace  ;  but  the 
confounding  of  literal  women  with  mystical  husbands,  has 
often  produced  the  grapes  of  Sodom  and  clusters  of  Gomor- 
rah. And  among  the  many  instances  of  the  Quakers  assum- 
ing a  power  to  govern  the  Scriptures,  instead  of  being  gov- 
erned by  them,  take  the  following. 

The  Baptist  churches  in  Wales,  gathered  by  our  Mr. 
Miles  and  others,  published  a  confession  of  their  faith, 
wherein  they  adopted  the  words  of  David  in  Psalm,  51:5; 
to  which  Fox  in  page  214  of  his  former  book  said,  k<  David 
doth  not  say,  You  were  conceived  in  sin,  but  I.  John  was 
sanctified  from  the  womb  ;  and  the  Scriptures  speak  of  chil- 
dren that  are  clean.  And  so  you  do  not  speak  as  elders  and 
messengers  of  true  churches,  or  men  dividing  the  word 
aright,  but  you  are  one  against  another,  though  you  are  all 
against  them  you  call  Quakers  that  be  in  the  truth."  "  In 
which  passage,"  says  Mr.  Williams,  "  he  discovers  a  strong 
presumption  that  he  never  felt  what  the  woful  estate  of  all 
mankind  by  nature  is."1  To  which  they  reply  and  say, 
"  Paul  saith,  I  am  crucified  with  Christ  (mark  i"  am)  and 
Christ  liveth  in  me  ;  and  the  life  that  I  live  in  the  flesh,  is 
by  the  faith  of  the  son  of  God,  &c. ;  is  not  the  faith  victory  ? 
and  thou  fallest  a  railing,  and  speaking  of  our  conditions, 
which  thou  art  ignorant  of,  and  thy  own,  aud  hast  abused 
both  the  Scriptures  and  us."2 

In  July,  1672,  Mr.  Williams  drew  up  fourteen  proposi- 
tions, and  inclosed  them  in  a  letter  to  Deputy  Governor 

'Williams,  Appendix,  pp.  GO.  G7.  2Fox,  Second  part,  p.  136, 


[1677.]  PUBLIC  DISPUTE  WITH  THE  QUAKERS.  367 

Cranston,  whom  he  styles,  "  My  kind  friend,"  for  him  to 
deliver  them  to  Fox  or  his  friends  ;  in  which  Mr.  Williams 
proposed  a  fair  dispute  upon  those  points  with  any  of  them, 
seven  propositions  to  be  handled  at  Newport,  and  the  others 
at  Providence,  on  the  days  they  should  appoint.  By  some 
means  the  matter  was  delayed  till  Fox  had  sailed  for  Eng- 
land ;  after  which  John  Stubs,  John  Burnyeat  and  William 
Edmundson,  engaged  in  the  affair,  and  with  them,  Williams 
held  the  dispute  at  Newport,  on  the  9th,  10th  and  12th  of 
August,  and  at  Providence  the  17th.  When  they  began  at 
Newport,  he  publicly  declared  his  motives  to  be  these  : — 

1.  The  vindicating  his  most  Holy  Name,  which  my  soul  saw  trodden  in 
the  dirt  by  Satan  clothed  in  Samuel's  mantle,  and  the  bright  garment  of  an 
angel  of  light,  which  once  he  was,  but  pride  deceived  him.  2.  I  had  in 
my  eye  the  vindicating  this  colony  for  receiving  such  persons  whom  others 
would  not.  We  suffer  for  their  sakes,  and  are  accounted  their  abettors, 
that  therefore,  together  with  the  improvement  of  our  liberties  which  the 
God  of  Heaven,  and  our  king's  majesty  have  graciously  given  us,  I  might 
give  a  public  testimony  against  their  opinions  in  such  a  way  and  exercise, 
I  judged  it  incumbent  upon  my  spirit  and  conscience  to  do  (in  some  re- 
gards) more  than  most  in  the  colony.  I  may  also  truly  say,  3.  That  I 
had  it  in  my  eye,  that  this  exercise  might  occasion  some  soul-consideration 
in  many.1 

As  they  dwelt  so  much  upon  the  word  Light,  and  upon 
its  coming  into  the  world  with  all  mankind,  he  asked  them 
in  public  : — 

Whether  it  comes  into  them  at  the  conception,  or  at  the  birth,  or  when 
else?  whether  it  was  in  all  mankind  before  the  coming  and  death  of  Christ, 
or  to  those  since  his  coming,  or  both?  whether  it  be  in  the  understanding, 
will,  memory,  affections,  in  any  of  them  severally,  or  lodged  in  all  of  them 
jointly  ?2 

In  answer  to  this  they  say  : — 

As  to  his  unlearned  questions,  whether  the  light  cometh  into  mankind  at 
the  conception,  or  at  the  birth,  or  when  else?  we  leave  him  to  what  is 
written  John  1:9.  Christ  is  the  true  light,  that  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  world.  So  it  is  evident,  all  are  lighted  that  come  into  the 
world  ;  and  the  believers  witnessed  it  to  shine  in  their  hearts,  and  Abra- 
ham saw  his  light,  or  day ;  and  in  it  David  saw   more  light,  which  was 

Williams,  pp.  25,  26.  2Williams,  p.  35. 


368  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

before  Christ  came  in  the  flesh  ;  John  saith,  in  the  "Word  which  was  in  the 
beginning,  was  life,  aud  the  life  was  the  light  of  men.1 

Mr.  Williams  says  : — 

The  hinge  and  pinch  of  the  difference  lies  in   the   opposition  which  the 

Quakers  make  against  the  manhood  of  Christ  Jesus  to  be  yet  extant 

Who  questions  but  Christ  Jesus,  as  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  influeuceth  all 
|)arts  of  the  world  in  several  respects,  and  nothing  is  hid  from  his  heat? 
He  is  felt  in  the  bruised  reed  and  smoking  flax  ;  in  the  poor  in  spirit ;  in 
the  hungry  and  thirsty  after  righteousness  ;  sometimes  in  the  hope  of  glory 
to  come,  yea,  in  present  joy  unutterable  and  glorious ;  sometimes  the 
Lamb's  wife  is  visibly  asleep  though  her  heart  wakes ;  sometimes  she  is 
alarmed  by  his  knocking  and  is  sluggishly  unwilliug  to  open  to  him  ;  some- 
times she  rises  and  opens  but  he  is  gone,  and  she  feels  for  him  by  day  and 
night,  and  cannot  find  him. 

Again  he  says  : — 

The  Papists,  Arminians  and  Quakers  are  one  ;  1.  As  to  the  power  of 
nature  and  free  will  in  heavenly  and  spiritual  matters  ;  2.  As  to  the  losing 
of  true  saving  grace  ;  3.  As  to  election  and  predestination  in  time,  upon 
obedience,  and  rejection,  and  reprobation  upon  rebellion  and  disobedience. 
....  4.  The  Quakers  are  brethren  with  the  Socinians,  in  making  Christ  a 
type  and  figure,  a  pattern  and  example  how  Christians  ought  to  walk  ;  not 
that  the  blood  which  he  shed  upon  the  cross  at  Jerusalem,  was  a  sufficient 
price  aud  satisfaction  unto  God  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.2 

To  which  they  say  : — 

This  is  like  the  rest  of  thy  false  charges  and  comparisons ;  aud  what 
dost  thou  talk  of  election  and  predestination,  &c,  when  thou  callest  the 
light  of  Christ  an  idol?  for  these  are  mysteries  to  thee,  who  art  not  come 
to  take  heed  unto  the  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place.3  [See  II  Cor.  10. 
12.] 

His  last  proposition  was,  that  their  spirit  tended  to  arbi- 
trary government  and  fiery  persecution ;  upon  which  he 
says : — 

By  an  arbitrary  government,  I  do  not  intend  a  ruling  by  force,  for  there 
could  be  no  government  in  the  world  without  the  sword,  but  arbitrary,  I 
said,  came  from  arbitrium,  which  signifies  will  or  pleasure  ;  and  so  my  ar- 
gument is,  that,  persons  immediately  speaking  from  God,  it  is  impertinent 
and  profane  to  clog  and  cumber  them  with  laws,  for  the  voice  of  God,  the 
law  of  laws,  proceeds  out  of  their  mouth,  thau  which  there  could  be  none 

^ox,  p.  32.  "Williams,  p.  137;  Appendix,  p.  56.  'Fox,  p.  154. 


[1677.]      CONTROVERSY  OF  WILLIAMS  WITH  THE  QUAKERS.        369 

more  just,  wise  or  holy I  told  them  I  must  crave  their  patience  while 

I  must  profess  my  fears,  lest  the  spirit  by  which  they  were  guided,  might 
run  them  upon  their  own  aud  others'  temporal  destruction.  I  told  them  I 
thought  they  had  no  such  thing  in  their  eye  at  present ;  but  if  power  of 
the  sword  came  into  their  hands,  it  was  easy  to  imagine,  that  whom  the 
spirit  (infallible)  decreed  to  death,  peasant  or  prince,  if  it  were  possible,  he 
must  be  executed.1 

To  this  they  say  : — 

Where  there  is  no  force  there  is  no  fear  of  slavery,  and  such  an  arbitrary 
government  no  body  was  ever  afraid  of.  ....  But  Roger,  dost  thou  not  ac- 
cuse the  people  called  Quakers  of  holding,  that  they  are  acted  by  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  not  by  their  own  spirits?  If  so,  it  is  the  arbitrium  or  will 
and  pleasure  of  their  God,  and  not  their  own  wills  and  spirits  that  they  are 
acted  by  ;  and  what  harm  is  this  to  just  government?  or  how  doth  this  set 
up  men's  will  and  power?  O,  thy  blindness  !  thy  darkness  !  and  thy  con- 
fusion !2 

He  then  referred  them  to  the  passage  before  recited  about 
the  magistrate's  subjecting  all  into  his  light ;  and  closed  that 
head  with  observing,  that  Christ  says,  Out  of  the  abundance 
of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh  ;  and  asks  if  any  professors 
of  the  Christian  name  except  Papists,  were  ever  so  sharp  and 
cutting  with  their  tongue,  as  they,  even  to  knowing  and  con- 
scientious persons  ]  From  whence  he  questions,  what  might 
be  expected  if  whips,  swords  and  halters  were  permitted  to 
fall  into  their  hands  ?     To  which  they  say  : — 

The  tongues  of  God's  people  have  in  all  ages  been  as  a  fire  and  a  sword 

to   the  wicked It  may  be  as  rationally  questioned  of  the  people  of 

God  in  this  age,  as  in  former  ages  ;  and  God  will  reckon  with  thee,  thou 
ungodly,  unjust  man,  that  insinuatest  these  wicked  things  against  a  suffer- 
ing, as  well  as  harmless  people  !  This  spirit  thou  art  led  by,  in  writing 
against  us,  would  burn  us,  as  it  led  thy  forefathers  to  burn  the  martyrs  in 
Smithfield  ;  for  ye  are  all  of  Cain's  race,  and  are  found  in  his  steps,  and 
shall  have  Cain's  reward  if  you  repent  not.3 

This  was  their  way  of  quenching  a  firebrand. 
The  Quakers  prevailed  so  far,   that  in    1675,   Mr.  Cod- 
dington  was  Governor,  and  Mr.  John   Easton4  Deputy  Gov- 

'Williams,  p.  204.  2Fox,  p.  226.  3Fox,  p.  231. 

4  John  Easton  was  the  son  of  Nicholas  Easton,  mentioned  on  pp.  78,  97. — Ed. 
24 


370  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

crnor ;  when,  finding  that  their  spiritual  power  would  not 
secure  them  against  the  Indians,  they  gave  out  military  com- 
missions under  their  hands  and  seals  to  arm  both  vessels  and 
garrisons  against  them.1  Harris  was  again  chosen  an  Assist- 
ant in  the  years  '73,  '74  and  '76,  in  the  last  of  which  Mr.  S. 
Hubbard  said  in  a  letter  to  Boston,  "  The  Quakers  are  still 
uppermost  in  government  among  us  ;  I  mean  in  outward 
rule,  though  we  have  put  out  the  chief,  Mr.  John  Easton, 
from  being  Deputy,  and  now  Major  John  Cranston  is  Deputy 
Governor."  Mr.  Williams's  book  came  out  soon  after,  and 
at  their  next  election,  May  2,  1676,  the  Quakers  were  left 
out  of  office  ;  and  on  June  28,  Mr.  Coddington  wrote  the 
fore -cited  letter  to  his  friend  Fox  ;  which  facts  may  enable 
us  to  account  for  the  spirit  of  it.  Mr.  Williams  was  again 
chosen  a  magistrate,  but  excused  himself  from  that  service  ; 
yet  he  wrote  thus  to  Providence,  viz.  : — 

I  pray  the  town  that  the  place  of  meeting  be  certain,  and  some  course 
settled  for  payments,  that  the  Clerk  and  Serjeant  be  satisfied  according  to 
moderation  ;  that  the  town  business  may  go  on  cheerfully  ;  that  the  busi- 

'Callender,  p.  80,  [135.]  Colony  Records.— B. 

11  It  is  true  the  Governor  and  the  Deputy  Governor,  that  year,  were  both  of  the 
people  called  Quakers,  but  there  are  military  commissions  still  in  being  under  their 
hands  and  seals,  to  Mr.  B.  Arnold,  Jun.,  and  others,  to  go  in  an  armed  sloop  to  visit 
the  garrisonstin  Providence."     Callender,  R.I.  Hist.  Coll.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  134. 

"  To  John  Cranston,  by  this  present  Assembly  appointed  and  chosen  Major  of 
this  his  Majesty's  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations,  tor  the  well 
ordering  and  managing  the  military  officers  in  this  Colony,  and  for  the  defence 
of  the  king's  subjects  herein. 

"You  arc  therefore,  in  his  Majesty's  name,  hereby  fully  and  absolutely  required, 
as  Major  of  all,  and  singular,  the  land  forces  to  this  Colony  belonging,  to  under- 
take the  conduct,  leading  and  training  up  of  the  said  forces,  and  tor  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  king's  subjects  in  this  Colony,  to  take  care  that  the  said  military  be  put 
in  a  suitable  and  absolute  way  of  defence.  You  are  also,  by  virtue  hereof,  to  have 
the  absolute  command  of  all  the  captains  and  inferior  officers  with  their  respective 
Companies  within  this  Colony,  to  martial,  array  at  your  command,  and  to  repair  to 
such  place  or  places  as  may  be  most  for  the  king's   interest    and   the   safety   of  the 

inhabitants    here; and,  upon    assault   of  any   enemy,   with   them,    or  either   of 

them,  to  use  your  utmost  endeavor  to  kill,  expulse,  expel,  take  and  destroy  all  and 
every  the  enemies   of  this   his   Majesty's   Colony,   that  shall    in  hostile    manner  be 

found  acting  against  the  public  peace  of  this  Colony  and  the  inhabitants  herein 

William  Coddington,  Governor. 
April  11th,  ir,70." 

R.  I.  Colonial  Records  —Ed. 


[1677.]  WARWICK  APPEALS  TO  THE  KING.  371 

ness  of  the  rate  (paid  by  so  many  already)  be  finished  ;  that  the  old  cus- 
tom of  order  be  kept  in  our  meetings,  and  those  unruly  be  reproved,  or 
upon  obstinacy,  cast  out  from  sober  and  freemen's  company ;  that  our 
ancient  use  of  arbitration  be  brought  into  esteem  again  ;  that  (it  being  con- 
stantly reported  that  Connecticut  is  upon  the  gaining  his  Majesty's  consent 
to  enslave  us  to  their  parish  worship)  we   consider  Avhat  we  ought  to  do. 

A  special  Court  of  Commissioners  met  at  Providence. 
October  3,  1676,  procured  by  Harris;  who  by  a  jury  gave 
his  party  five  verdicts  for  land,  the  first  of  which  was  against 
Gregory  Dexter,  Arthur  Fenner,  and  the  town  of  Provi- 
dence, wherein  they  gave,  '4  two  pounds  in  money,  damage 
and  cost  of  Court ;  and  also  that  the  said  defendants  run  the 
line  equally  between  Pawtuxet  River  and  Wenasquatucket 
Eiver,  till  they  met  with  a  thwart  line  from  the  head  of 
Wenasquatucket  River,  directly  running  to  Pawtuxet  River." 
The  next  two  verdicts  gave  that  party  thirty  pounds  dam- 
ages in  each,  with  lands  further  southward  ;  of  which  the 
town  of  Warwick,  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  Holden  and  Mr. 
Greene,  gave  an  account  two  years  after  to  the  king,  wherein 
they  mention  the  former  ill  treatment  they  had  met  with  at 
Boston,  and  represent  that  the  late  war  was  wholly  caused 
by  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  neighboring  colonies.  After 
the  Narragansett  right  in  December,  1675,  they  say  : — 

The  neighboring  colonies  withdrew  their  forces  from  us,  leaving  our  un" 
guarded  towns  to  the  destroyer,  whereby  the  town  of  Warwick  was  wholly 
burnt,  great  part  of  our  goods  and  cattle  lost  and  consumed,  but  the  lives 
of  most  of  us  reserved  as  a  prey,  supported  with  hope  that  yet  in  time  of 
peace,  we  might  be  enabled  to  rebuild  and  provide  for  our  distressed  famil- 
ies and  succeeding  generations But  William  Harris  of  Pautuxet,  came 

over  in  1674,  and  claimed  land  in  Narragansett  by  Indian  purchase,  and 
the  king  appointed  the  case  to  be  heard  by  Commissioners,  chosen  out  of 
the  several  colonies  of  New  England.  We  attended  time  and  place  accord- 
ing to  summons,  but  the  major  part  of  the  Commissioners,  elected  out  of 
our  professed  and  mortal  enemies,  out-voted  those  of  Rhode  Island,  grant- 
ing and  awarding  to  him  the  lands  bought  and  improved  by  your  petition- 
ers, also  giving  him  great  damages,  notwithstanding  the  testimony  of  one 
Mr.  Williams,  the  first  Indian  purchaser  of  those  lauds,  and  other  material 
■witnesses  in  our  behalf,  whereby  above  five  thousand  acres  of  land  and 
meadows  belonging  to  the  poor  town  of  Warwick,  and  parts  adjacent  are 


372  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

taken  away,  and  we  prohibited  to   rebuild,   or   attempt   anything   for    the 
support  of  our  dependences. 

They  then  went  on  to  pray  for  relief.1 

The  people  of  Connecticut  in  the  mean  time  had  continu- 
ed  their  encroachments  upon  the  west  part  of  that  colony, 
till  a  letter  was  obtained  from  the  king,  dated  July  9,  1679, 
confirming  Ilhode  Island  charter  ;  upon  which  the  Assembly 
wrote  to  warn  them  off  their  lands,  and  to  charge  their  own 
people  not  to  obey  them.  But  at  the  same  time  Harris  had 
procured  an  order  from  the  king  to  the  authority  of  the 
colony,  to  levy  the  aforesaid  executions.  In  consequence 
whereof,  I  have  seen  warrants  issued  to  John  Smith  of  New- 
port, appointing  him  Marshal  to  levy  three  of  them,  signed 
November  24,  1679,  by  John  Cranston,  Governor,  Caleb 
Carr,  Joseph  Clarke,  Arthur  Fenner  and  John  Sanford, 
Assistants.  But  this  not  satisfying  Harris,  he  soon  set  off 
again  for  England  with  new  complaints.  Mr.  Samuel  Hub- 
bard wrote  to  his  children  at  Westerly,  the  7th  of  February, 
following,  informing  them  of  a  rumor  he  heard  of  turning 
their  Governor  out  of  his  place,  and  of  putting  a  Quaker  into 
it,  and  of  setting  Narragansett,  which  they  called  the  king's 
province,  off  by  itself;  and  said  he,  "William  Harris  is  gone 
for  Old  England,  displeased  at  our  Court's  act,  -and  will  not 
accept,  though  offered,  it  is  said,  to  be  Connecticut  agent's 
attorney.  God  can  have  Ahithophel's  counsel  to  fall  and  to 
hang  himself."  Poor  man !  he  was  taken  and  carried  into 
Turkish  slavery,  from  whence  he  never  returned.  Thus 
ended  the  controversy  with  him,  whose  first  title  to  any  of 
those  lands  was  a  free  gift  from  Mr.  Williams. 

Two  considerations  have  moved  me  to  be  much  larger 
and  more  particular  upon  these  unhappy  affairs,  than  I  had 
any  thoughts  of  at  first.  One  is,  that  harangues  have  often 
been  made  from  pulpits,  and  in  courts  of  justice,  from  that 
time  to  ours,  upon  the  great  disorders  of  Ilhode  Island  col- 
ony, to  prove  that  an  established  religion  by  human  laws  is 

•See  page  230. 


[1677. J  LESSONS  OF  THIS  CONTROVERSY.  373 

exceeding  necessary  in  every  government.  I  thought  it  duty, 
therefore,  to  give  the  public  a  fair  and  full  state  of  those 
facts,  to  enable  them  to  judge  righteously  concerning  such 
addresses.  The  other  is,  that  I  might  plainly  detect  and 
expose  the  pernicious  nature  of  imagining  that  dominion  is 
founded  in  grace,  or  that  religion  endows  the  subjects  of  it 
with  a  right  to  act  as  lawgivers  and  judges  over  others.  In 
the  Assembly  that  banished  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  in  1637,  Mr. 
Coddington  said,  "  I  do  not  see  any  clear  witness  against  her  ; 
and  you  know  it  is  a  rule  of  the  Court,  that  no  man  may  be 
a  judge  and  accuser  too."1  But  where  wTas  that  rule  when 
he,  in  his  letter  to  Fox,  acted  the  part  of  an  accuser,  wit- 
ness and  judge  against  Mr.  Williams,  even  as  to  the  inward 
state  of  his  soul !  With  all  their  talk  about  light,  Mr.  Cot- 
ton formerly2  and  the  Quakers  now,  accused  Mr.  Williams  of 
counteracting  his  own  principles  about  liberty  of  conscience, 
only  for  examining  and  bringing  to  light  the  nature  of  their 
principles  and  behavior  ;  and  the  word  of  truth  tells  us  what 
light  that  is.  Matthew  6.  23  ;  John  3.  19,  21.  The  Quakers 
have  had  a  fame  among  many  for  honesty  and  liberty,  and 
far  be  it  from  me  to  detract  in  the  least  from  what  has  truly 
been  among  them  of  that  nature  ;  and  I  readily  grant  that 
not  only  in  those  respects,  but  also  in  their  moderation  in 
dress,  and  solemnity  in  worship,  (though  not  singularity) 
and  hospitality  to  strangers,  they  have  merited  high  com- 
mendation, and  more  so  for  their  zeal  against  the  slave 
trade.  Yet  what  a  bondage  is  it  to  be  under  such  a  power 
as  their  first  leaders  assumed  !  What  pope  ever  spake  more 
haughtily  than  to  say,  i4  He  lives  in  a  peaceable  government 
but  is  in  a  restless  spirit,  grudgeth  at  the  liberty  of  others, 
and  cannot  be  content  with  his  own,"  only  because  he 
sought  in  a  peaceably  way  to  discharge  his  conscience,  by 
bearing  a  plain  testimony  against  what  appeared  to  him 
to  be  very  corrupt  and  dangerous  ]     And  what  sentence  was 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  II,  p.  516,  [444,  445.] 
2See  page  134, 


374  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

ever  more  unjust  than  that  which  is  delivered  in  their  mar- 
tyr-hook ?  Grove  tells  us  the  first  part  of  it  was  published 
in  1661,  the  other  in  1667,  by  that  zealous  servant  of  the 
Lord,  George  Bishop.  He  lived  in  the  city  of  Bristol,  and 
he  entitled  his  work,  "  New  England  judged,  not  by  man's, 
but  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord."  After  his  account  of  the  whip- 
ping of  Humphrey  Norton  and  Deborah  Wilson,  among  the 
rest,  he  reads  off  his  sentence  thus : — 

Whether  they  will  hear  or  forbear,  they   shall  know   that  his  prophets 

have  been  amongst  them So,  see  where  you  are,  and  in  what  case,  ye 

blood  thirsty  enemies  of  God  ;  ye  men  of  Boston,  of  Plymouth  patent,  and 
New  Haven  ;  ye  rulers  of  Sodorn,  and  inhabitants  of  Gomorrah,  who  are 
hardened  against  the  hour  of  your  visitation  ;  whose  day  is  over  ;  who  de- 
light in  blood,  in  the  blood  of  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  God,  to  whom 
bbod  will  be  given,  for  ye  are  worthy  ;  the  Lord  will  come  upon  ye,  you 
that  put  his  day  afar  off,  and  say,  He  delays  his  coming  ;  I  say,  He  will 
come  upon  you,  in  a  day  that  ye  think  not  of,  and  in  an  hour  of  which  ye 
are  not  aware  ;  and  will  cut  you  asunder,  and  appoint  you  your  portion 
with  hypocrites  and  sinners  ;  and  ye  shall  be  cast  into  the  lake  that  burn- 
etii with  fire  and  brimstone,  there  to  be  tormented  with  the  devil  and  his 
angels,  which  is  the  second  death. 

In  1703,  in  the  margin  against  this  sentence,  Grove  said, 
"  This  was  fulfilled  in  the  Indian  wars,  wherein  many  of 
them  were  cut  to  pieces. 'n 

Now,  if  in  Fox's  view  Mr.  Williams  discovered  a  devilish 
spirit,  in  telling  the  ministers  he  wrote  to,  that  perhaps  some 
of  them  might  live  to  see  the  Pope  and  Mahomet  cast  into 
that  lake,2  what  a  spirit  did  this  great  writer  of  theirs  dis- 
cover? What  God  did  he  worship,  if  this  sentence  came 
immediately  from  him  ]  The  evident  reason  of  their  favor- 
able opinion  of  Mr.  Cotton  above  his  colleague,  was  his 
countenancing  the  power  by  which  Mrs.  Hutchinson  declared 
that  she  should  be  delivered,  and  the  Court  ruined  with 
their  posterity."3  A  gentleman  of  that  Assembly  said  she 
told  h\m  in  London,  that  she  had  never  any  great  thing  done 

'Bishop  Grove's  Abridgment,  pp.  206,  207. 

■See  page  856.— Ed.  3See  page  84. 


[1677.]  QUAKER  PROPHECIES  TESTED  BY  FACTS.  375 

about  her,  but  it  was  revealed  to  her  beforehand  ;  to  which 
she,  before  the  Court,  replied,  "  I  say  the  same  thing 
again."1  And  how  was  that  revelation  fulfilled  ?  Why 
Bishop  says,  "  Some  of  your  patents  endeavored  to  getPhode 
Island  under  some  of  your  governments,  which  occasioned 
some  to  remove  under  the  Dutch,  where  Anne  Hutchinson, 
and  her  son  Francis,  and  W.  Collins  her  son-in-law,  with 
others,  were  murdered  by  the  Indians ;  the  guilt  and  weight 
of  whose  blood  lies  upon  you,  as  done  by  you  ;  who  were 
people  of  an  honest  life,  and  good  behavior,  only  differing 
from  you."2  The  first  legislator  and  captain  that  was  slain 
in  Philip's  war  was  her  son  Edward,  who,  as  Bishop  tells 
us,  entered  his  protest  at  Boston,  in  1658,  against  their 
making  a  law  to  banish  Quakers  on  pain  of  death.  I  can- 
not learn  that  any  man  who  had  ever  been  an  Assistant  in 
either  colony  was  then  slain  by  the  Indians,  except  Mr. 
John  Wickes,  of  Warwick,  who  had  been  a  sufferer  with 
Gorton.  He  was  killed  at  a  very  advanced  age.3  Put  all 
these  things  together  and  shall  we  not  say  with  Solomon, 
That  which  is  crooked  cannot  be  made  straight  \ 

Mr.  Williams's  zeal  appeared  to  be  directed,  not  against 
the  person  of  any  man,  but  only  against  men's  errors.  In 
the  Preface  to  his  Reply  to  Mr.  Cotton,  he  says : — 

Since  it  pleased  God  to  lay  a  command  upon  [on]  my  conscience,  to 
come  in  as  his  poor  witness  in  this  great  cause,  I  rejoiced  that  it  pleased 
him  to  appoint  so  able  and  excellent  [and  conscionable]  an  instrument  to 
bolt  out  the  truth  to  the  bran  ;  though  [so]  I  can  humbly  say  in  God's 
holy  presence,  it  is  my  constant  heaviness  and  soul's  grief  [as]  to  differ 
from  any  fearing  God  ;  [so]  much  more,  [ten  thousand  times]  from  Mr, 
Cotton,  whom  I  have  desired,  and  still  desire,  highly  to  esteem  and  dearly 
to  respect,  for  so  great  a  portion  of  mercy  and  grace  vouchsafed  unto  him, 
and  so  many  truths  of  Christ  [Jesus]  maintained  by  him.  [And]  there- 
fore (notwithstanding  some  of  no  common  judgment  and  respect  to  him, 
have  said,  he  wrote  his  washings  of  the  bloody  tenet  in  blood  against 
Christ  [Jesus]  and  gall  against  me,  yet)  if  upon  so  slippery  and  narrow  a 

Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  II,  p.  510.   [III.] 
2Bishop,  pp.  225,  226.  See  page  97. 
3Callender,  p.  93.  [148.] 


376  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

passage,  I  have  slipped  into  any  term  or  expression  unbeseeming  his  per- 
son, or  the  [matter,  the]  cause  of  the  Most  High  in  hand  [considered,] 
I  humbly  crave  pardon  of  God,  and  Mr.  Cotton  also. 

Although  he  could  not  say  the  like  of  the  chief  teachers 
among  the  Quakers,  yet  he  said,  "  Many  truly  humble  souls 

may  be   captivated   among  them And   many   of  the 

Quakers  I  love  and  honor."  And  he  said,  "  He  that  shall 
ponder  the  fathers'  polygamy,  the  best  kings  of  Judah  suf- 
fering the  high  places,  David's  slaying  Uriah,  Asa's  imprison- 
ing the  prophet,  Peter's  rash  using  the  sword,  the  disci- 
ples' calling  for  fire  from  heaven,  shall  see  cause  to  reprove 
the  Quakers  for  their  rash  damning  of  others  from  whom 
they  have  suffered."1  But  when  they  came  to  answer  him, 
they  were  so  far  from  regarding  this  admonition,  that  where 
he  spake  of  the  matter  of  the  Christian  churches,  viz. : 
true  converts,2  and  said  in  the  margin,  "  This  was,  and  I  hope 
is,  the  principle  of  the  New  English  churches  ;"  they  spent 
three  pages  full  of  capitals  about  their  sufferings,  to  prove 
that  it  could  not  be  so,  and  at  last  said :  "  So  it  is  clear,  you 
that  have  destroyed  men's  lives,  are  riot  of  God,  but  the 
devil."3  This  was  the  temper  of  their  teachers ;  but  of 
others,  the  two  Eastern's,  father  and  son,  Walter  Clarke,  and 
Henry  Bull,  were  all  worthy  Governors  of  that  denomination, 
and  I  find  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard  expressing  a  considerable 
esteem  also  for  Mr.  Coddington,  after  his  death,  in  a  letter  to 
a  friend.  Neither  have  I  found  one  reflection  upon  his  per- 
son in  all  Mr.  Williams's  writings,  unless  a  plain  recital  of 
facts  may  be  so  called. 

A  new  sect  came  out  from  among  the  Baptists  about  this 
time,  who  have  caused  not  a  little  trouble  to  themselves  and 
others,  of  whom  I  have  collected  the  following  brief  account, 
chiefly  from  the  letters  preserved  by  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard. 
In  the  close  of  the  year  1674,  the  family  of  Mr.  James 
Itogers,  of  New  London,  called  Mr.  (Vandal  over  from  Wes- 

1  Williams,  pp.  :5,  85,  71,  178.  2See  page  110.  3Fox,  p.  68,  66. 


[1677.]  THE  ROGERS  FAMILY,  OF  NEW  LONDON.  377 

terly,  who  preached  among  them,  and  baptized  his  sons  John 
and  James,  and  an  Indian  named  Japheth.  This  alarmed 
the  other  denomination ;  and  Mr.  Bradstreet,  minister  at  New 
London,  said  he  hoped  the  next  Court  would  take  a  course 
with  them.  They  sent  to  Newport,  and  Elder  Hiscox,  Mr. 
Hubbard  and  his  son  Clarke,  were  sent  to  visit  them  in 
March,  1675,  when  Jonathan  Rogers  was  also  baptized,  and 
all  four  of  them  were  received  as  members  of  their  church, 
by  prayer  and  laying  on  of  hands.  Hereupon  John  Rogers's 
father-in-law  took  his  wife  and  children  from  him ;  and, 
upon  her  complaints  against  him,  he  was  carried  before  their 
Deputy  Governor,  and  committed  to  Hartford  jail,  from 
whence  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Hubbard  April  6,  1675.  How  long 
he  continued  there  I  do  not  find,  only,  he  visited  the  church 
at  Newport  the  next  September.  In  September  18,  1676, 
those  four  members  went  with  a  boat,  and  brought  Elder 
Hiscox  and  Mr.  Hubbard  to  New  London  again,  when  old 
Mr.  Rogers,  his  wife  and  daughter,  were  all  baptized  and  re- 
ceived into  that  church  ;  whereupon  they  were  called  before 
the  magistrate,  but  were  soon  released  ;  though,  from  that 
time,  they  began  to  imprison  the  Rogerses  for  working  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week.  And  when  Mr.  Hiscox  and  Mr. 
Hubbard  visited  them  again,  and  held  worship  with  them 
two  miles  out  of  town  on  their  Sabbath,  November  23,  1677, 
and  Joseph  Rogers's  wife  had  next  morning  given  them  a 
satisfying  account  of  her  experiences,  John  must  needs  have 
them  go  up  to  town  to  baptize  her  there.  Mr.  Hubbard  op- 
posed it,  but  John  carried  the  day  ;  and  while  Mr.  Hiscox 
was  preaching  at  town,  the  constable  came  and  took  him,  and 
they  all  went  before  the  magistrate  ;  where  also  was  the  min- 
ister, Mr.  Bradstreet,  who  had  much  to  say,  about  the  good 
way  that  their  fathers  had  set  up.  Upon  which  Mr.  Hub- 
bard, obtaining  leave  to  speak,  said,  "  You  are  a  young  man, 
but  I  am  an  old  planter  of  about  forty  years,  a  beginner  of 
Connecticut,  and  have  been  persecuted  for  my  conscience 
from  this  colony,  and  I  can  assure  you,  that  the  old  begin- 


378  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

nets  were  not  for  persecution,  but  we  had  liberty  at  first." 
After  further  discourse,  the  magistrate  said,  Could  you  not 
do  it  elsewhere  ?  "A  good  answer,"  says  Mr.  Hubbard  ;  and 
so  they  were  released  and  went  to  Samuel  Rogers's  house, 
where  his  brother  John  put  himself  forward,  prayed,  and 
then  went  out  to  the  water  and  baptized  his  sister ;  upon 
which  Mr.  Hiscox  was  seized  again,  as  supposing  he  had 
done  it,  but  John  came  before  the  magistrate,  and  was  for- 
ward to  make  known  his  act  therein ;  so  the  others  were  re- 
leased and  returned  home. 

Jonathan  Rogers  had  married  Naomi  Burdick,  grand- 
daughter to  Mr.  Hubbard;  and  on  March  2, 1678,  Elder  His- 
cox baptized  her  at  Westerly,  together  with  James  Babcock, 
George  Lamphere,  and  two  others ;  and  on  the  oth  of  May 
following,  Joseph  Clarke  wrote  from  thence  to  his  father 
Hubbard,  that  John  and  James  Rogers  with  their  father  were 
in  prison ;  having  previously  excommunicated  Jonathan, 
chiefly  because  he  did  not  retain  their  judgment  of  the  un- 
lawfulness of  using  medicines,  nor  accuse  himself  before  au- 
thority, for  working  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Here- 
upon the  church  at  Newport  sent  messengers  to  New  Lon- 
don about  this  matter,  who  reported  on  their  return,  that  "  a 
practice  was  started  up,  (out  of  conscience)  that  because  the 
world,  yea,  most  professors,  pray  in  their  families  mornings 
and  nights,  and  before  meats  and  after,  in  a  customary  way, 
therefore  to  forbear  prayer  in  their  families  or  at  meats 
publicly,  except  some  are  led  forth  upon  some  special 
occasion  ;  saying  they  find  no  command  in  the  word  of  God 
for  it."  About  this  time,  Elder  Iliscox's  church  received 
letters  from  Dr.  Chamberlain,  whereof  one  was  directed  to 
their  church,  he  being  of  the  same  faith  and  order  with 
them,  the  other  was  directed  as  follows : — 

Peter  Chamberlain,  senior,  Doctor  of  both  universities,  and  first  and 
eldest  physician  in  ordinary  to  his  Majesty's  person,  according  to  the  world, 
but  according  to  grace,  a  servant  of  the  word  of  God  ;  to  the  excellent  and 
noble   Governor  of  New  England  ;  grace,   mercy,  peace  and  truth,   from 


[1678.1  LETTERS  OF  CHAMBERLAIN  AND  LEETE.  379 

God  our  Father,  and  from  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  praying  for  you,  that 
you  may  abound  in  heavenly  graces  and  temporal  comforts.  I  have  always 
had  a  love  to  the  intended  purity,  and  unspotted  doctrine  of  New  England  ; 
for  Mr.  Cotton  was  of  the  same  college  and  university,  of  Emanuel  in 
Cambridge,  as  I  was,  and  so  was  Mr.  Hooker  and  others  with  whom  we 
were  all  contemporary  ;  and  I  never  knew  them  but  of  a  holy  life  and  con- 
versation. I  also  knew  Colonel  Humfrey,  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  and  Mr. 
Peters,  who  were  of  note  among  you,  and  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  all  had 
some  share  in  the  foundation  of  your  government.  But  certainly  the  first 
intentions  were  never  to  debar  the  truths  of  Scripture  and  liberty  of  con- 
science guided  thereby  ;  but  to  suppress  sin  and  idolatry,  and  prevent  all 
the  adulteries  of  Rome,  to  whom  all  things  are  lawful,  especially  lies  in  hy- 
pocrisy, to  promote  their  most  damnable  doctrines,  covetous  superstitions, 
and  blasphemous  supremacy.  It  is  great  wisdom  to  suppress  sin,  but  not 
oppress  the  liberty  of  a  good  conscience  ;  and  whilst  men  grant  liberty  of 
conscience,  not  to  admit  liberty  of  sin.  All  magistrates  have  not  attained 
to  this  wisdom,  else  England  had  been  long  since  freed  from  popery  and 
perjury.  Whatsoever  is  against  the  ten  commandments  is  sin.  Rom.  3. 
10  ;  I  John,  3.  4.  And  he  that  sinneth  in  one  point  is  guilty  of  all,  be- 
cause he  that  spake  one  word  of  them  spake  all,  and  he  added  no  more. 
Jam.  2.  10,  11  ;  Exo.  20.  1.  While  Moses  and  Solomon  caution  men,  so 
much  against  adding  to,  or  taking  from  ;  Deut.  4.  2  ;  Prov.  30.  5,  6  ;  and 
so  doth  the  beloved  apostle  ;  Rev.  22.  18,  19  ;  what  shall  wTe  say  of  those 
that  take  away  of  those  ten  words,  or  those  that  make  them  void,  and 
teach  men  so?  Nay,  they  dare  give  the  lie  to  Jehovah,  and  make  Jesus 
Christ  not  only  a  breaker  of  the  law,  but  the  very  author  of  sin  in  others, 
also  causing  them  to  break  them.  Hath  not  the  little  horn  played  his  part 
lustily  in  this,  and  worn  out  the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  so  that  they  be- 
come little-horn  men  also?  If  you  are  pleased  to  inquire  about  these 
things,  and  to  require  any  instances  or  informations,  be  pleased  by  your 
letters  to  command  it  from  your  humble  servant  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 

Peter  Chamberlain. 
Most  worthy  Governor.    September  1,  1677. 

Copies  hereof  were  sent  to  those  whom  it  was  directed 
to  ;  and  the  church  sent  a  letter  therewith  to  Connecticut, 
from  whence  this  answer  was  returned : — 

Hartford,  8,  8,  78. 
Friends  of  Newport  on  Rhode  Island  ;  William  Hiscox,   &c.  : — 
Yours  of  9,  4,  78,  was  received  the  7th  instant,   with   one    enclosed  from 
another,  Peter  Chamberlain,  senior.     The  advice   in  both   is  readily  com- 
plied withal  and  thankfully  accepted.     To  be   minded  of  any  parts  of  the 


380  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Scriptures  of  truth  is  gratefully  received,  aud  were  it  not  for  a  seducing 
devil,  and  a  deceitful  heart,  they  would  be  a  rule  of  life  unto  all  that  have 
senses  exercised  therein,  and  make  due  application  thereof.  What  yourselves 
or  that  worthy  gentlcmau  intend,  or  who  or  what  he  refers  to,  is  not  so 
easy  to  guess  at.  We  have  of  late  had  to  deal  with  Rogers  and  his  of  New 
London,  towards  whom  the  authority  have  shown  all  condescension  imagi- 
nable to  us  ;  that  if  they  would  forbear  to  offend  our  consciences,  we  should 
indulge  them  in  their  persuasion,  and  give  them  no  offence  in  the  seventh 
day,  in  worshipping  God  by  themselves.  We  may  doubt  (if  they  were 
governors  in  our  stead)  they  would  tell  us,  that  their  consciences  would  not 
suffer  them  to  give  us  so  much  liberty  ;  but. that  they  must  bear  wituess  to 
the  truth,  and  beat  down  idolatry,  as  the  old  kings  did  in  Scripture  ;  they 
judging  so  of  our  Lord's  day  worshipping.  It  may  be  that  your  counsel 
may  be  more  taking  with  them,  to  make  them  forbear,  than  ours  ;  which 
is  all  at  present,  with  respects, 

From  your  friend  and  servant  in  Christ, 

William  Leete. 

The  church  repeatedly  sent  and  labored  with  them,  but  to 
little  effect.  Mr.  Gibson  went  and  lived  and  preached  a 
while  among  them  at  New  London  ;  but  Mr.  Hubbard  wrote 
to  their  aged  brother  Thorton,  (who  had  removed  from  New- 
port to  Providence,)  on  November  8,  1679,  informing  him 
of  his  late  visit  to  that  people,  when  he  found  that  "old  Mr. 
Rogers,  had  the  wheel  of  a  loaded  cart  go  over  his  leg  a 
little  below  his  knee,  bruising  it  much,  and  had  been  so  six 
weeks,  but  now  could  move  it;  their  judgment  is  not  to  use 
any  means."  And,  said  he,  "  pray  remember  my  respects 
to  Mr.  Roger  Williams  ;  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  of  him 
and  his  wife  ;"  a  great  respect  to  whom  was  shown  in  all 
their  letters  as  long  as  he  lived.  On  June  7,1685,  Mr.  Hub- 
bard wrote  to  Mr.  Henry  Reeve  of  Jamaica,  and  informed 
him  that  messengers  were  then  gone  from  their  church  to 
New  London,  "  to  declare  against  two  or  more  of  them  that 
were  of  us,  who  are  declined  to  Quakerism,  I  might  say 
more;  of  whom  be  thou  aware, for  by  their  principles,  they 
will  travel  by  land  and  sea  to  make  disciples,  yea,  sorry 
ones  too.  Their  names  are  John  and  James  Rogers,  and 
one  Donham." 


[1678.]  THE  ROGERENES.  381 

From  this  beginning  proceeded  a  sect  which  has  contin- 
ued to  this  day,  who  from  their  chief  leader  have  been  called 
Rogerenes.  In  their  dialect  and  many  other  things,  they 
have  been  like  the  first  Quakers  in  this  country  ;  though 
they  have  retained  the  external  use  of  baptism  and  the  sup- 
per, and  have  been  singular  in  refusing  the  use  of  means 
and  medicines  for  their  bodies.  Their  greatest  zeal  has  been 
discovered  in  going  from  meeting  to  meeting,  and  from  town 
to  town,  as  far  as  Norwich  and  Lebanon,  (the  one  fourteen, 
the  other  twenty -four  miles,)  to  testify  against  hireling  teach- 
ers, and  against  keeping  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  a  sab- 
bath, which  they  call  the  idol-sabbath.  And  when  the 
authorities  have  taken  them  up  and  fined  them  therefor,  and 
have  sometimes  whipped  them  for  refusing  to  pay  it,  they 
have  soon  published  accounts  of  all  such  persecutions,  which 
has  been  the  very  means  of  keeping  their  sect  alive.  When 
the  small-pox  wTas  very  terrible  in  Boston,  in  1721,  and  great 
fear  of  it  was  discovered  in  the  country,  John  Rogers,  their 
founder,  was  confident  he  could  go  in  where  it  was  and  not 
catch  it ;  and  to  prove  his  faith,  wrent  a  hundred  miles  to 
Boston,  but  caught  the  distemper,  came  home  and  died 
with  it,  and  scattered  it  in  his  family  ;  yet  his  successors 
still  kept  on  in  their  way.  So  late  as  1763,  some  of  them 
repeatedly  came  and  clapped  shingles  and  pieces  of  boards 
together  around  the  meeting-house  in  Norwich  town,  as  well 
as  delivered  messages  to  the  worshippers,  against  their  keep- 
ing of  the  Lord's  day.  But  as  the  rulers  had  learned  so 
much  wisdom  as  only  to  remove  them  away  from  disturbing 
others,  without  inflicting  either  fine  or  corporal  punishment 
upon  them,  they  have  ceased  from  such  things  since  in  a 
great  measure,  and  as  they  never  w7ere  a  large  society,  there 
is  hope  of  a  true  reformation  among  them.1     Besides  these, 

Morgan  Edwards  gives  the  following  account  of  this  singular  sect : — 
"  The  most  forward  of  the  brothers  was  John;  for  he  took  upon  him  to  form  the 
family,  and  others  that  he  baptized,  into  a  church,  and  to  make  a  creed,  and  to  set- 
tle rules  of  discipline.     The  first  act  of  discipline  was  the  excommunication  of  his 


382  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

there  have  been  some  Sabbatarian  Baptists  in  that  place 
from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time,  though  not  a  dis- 
tinct church. 

We  must  now  return  to  our  Baptist  fathers  at  Boston. 
The  liberty  they  had  enjoyed,  with  a  blessing  upon  the  min- 
istry of  Mr.  Miles  and  others,  had  caused  such  an  increase 
of  members,  that,  in  February,   1677,  they  agreed  to  divide 

brother  Jonathan,  for  using  medicine  and  refusing  to  do  things  which  would  bring 
on  him  the  lash  of  the  civil  magistrate.  And  this  John  Rogers  was  not  only  the 
founder  of  the  sect,  and  the  person  from  whom  they  were  called  Rogerenes.  but  the 
hero  of  the  cause,  in  suffering  and  writing  and  defying;  I  say  defying,  for  he  had 
not  been  long  at  the  head  of  the  cause,  before  he  printed  and  published  the  follow- 
ing proclamation  :  '  I,  John  Rogers,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,  doth  here  make  an 
open  declaration  of  war  against  the  great  red  dragon,  and  against  the  beast  to 
which  he  gives  power ;  and  against  the  false  church  which  rides  upon  the  beast; 
and  against  the  false  prophets  who  are  established  by  the  dragon  and  the  beast ; 
and  against  the  image  of  the  beast :  and  also  a  proclamation  of  derision  against 
the  sword  of  the  devil's  spirit,  which  is  prisons,  stocks,  whips,  fines  and  revilings, 
all  of  which  is  to  defend  the  doctrines  of  devils.' 

11  His  tbeory  relative  to  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  is  scriptural,  for  the 
Rogerenes  baptize  by  immersing  professed  penitents  and  believers ;  the  Lord's 
sapper  they  administer  in  the  evening,  with  its  ancient  appendages.  Some  other 
articles  of  Rogers's  creed  are  orthodox.  The  particulars  of  it  are,  1st,  All  days 
are  alike  since  the  death  of  Christ.  2d.  No  medicines  are  to  be  used,  nor  doctors 
nor  surgeons  employed.  3d.  No  grace  at  meals.  4th.  All  prayers  to  be  mental, 
and  not  vocal,  except  when  the  spirit  of  prayer  compels  to  the  use  of  the  voice.  5th« 
All  unscriptural  parts  of  religious  worship  are  idols.  6th.  All  good  Christians  should 
exert  themselves  against  idols,  &c.  Among  these  idols  they  placed  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  infant  baptism,  &c.  The  First-day  sabbath  they  called  the  New  Eng- 
land idol.  The  methods  they  took  to  demolish  this  idol  were,  they  would  be  at 
work  near  meeting-houses  and  in  the  ways  to  meeting-houses,  and  take  work  into 
meeting-houses,  the  women  knitting  and  the  men  whittling  and  making  splits  for 
baskets,  and  every  now  and  then  contradicting  the  preachers.  This  was  seeking 
persecution,  and  they  had  plenty  of  it,  insomuch  that  the  New  Englanders  left  some 
of  them  neither  liberty,  nor  property,  nor  a  whole  skin. 

"  John  Rogers  was  an  author.  He  published  a  commentary  on  the  Revelation. 
He  that  bath  patience  to  read  it,  let  him  read  it.  He  also  published  '  A  Midnight 
Cry;'  a  '  Narrative  of  Sufferings)'  &c."     Materials  for  a  History   of  the  Baptists  in 

New  Jersey,  pp.  147,  148. 

Benedict  say.-  that  after  the  death  of  John  Rogers,  Joseph  Bolles  published  a 
second  edition  of  his  book,  entitled,  "  A  Midnight  Cry  from  the  temple  of  Cod  to 
the  ten  virgins  slumbering  and  sleeping.  Awake!  awake!  arise!  and  gird  your 
loins  and  trim  your  lamps,  for  behold  the  Bridegroom  eometh,  go  ye  therefore  out 
to  meet  him!" 

Even  as  late  as  1813,  according  to  Benedict,  there  was  a  "  small  company  of  the 
Rogerenes  in  Croton,  Ct.,  near  New  London."  History  of  the  Baptists,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  425,  420.— Eu. 


L1679.]  BAPTIST  MEETING-HOUSE  BUILT  IN  BOSTON.  383 

into  two  churches  ;  bat  in  January,  1678,  they  revoked  that 
act,  and  concluded  to  build  them  a  meeting-house,  in  Bos- 
ton, and  to  defer  the  affair  of  dividing,  till  they  could  obtain 
the  settlement  of  an  able,  sufficient  ministry  there.  They 
first  nominated  Mr.  Russell  for  that  end,  and  then  talked  of 
his  going  to  Swanzey  in  Mr.  Miles's  room  ;  but  in  conclu- 
sion, Mr.  Miles  returned  to  his  old  flock,  and  Mr.  Russell  was 
ordained  their  pastor  in  Boston,  July  28,  1679,  and  removed 
there.  Before  this  time  Governor  Leverett  had  deceased, 
and  Mr.  Bradstreet  had  been  chosen  in  his  stead ;  in  conse- 
quence of  which  this  church  wrote  to  their  brethren  at  New- 
port the  25th  of  January  this  year,  that  several  of  their 
brethren  and  sisters  had  been  called  to  Court,  censured, 
fined  twenty  shillings  a  piece  and  to  pay  Court  charges, 
and  others  only  admonished  and  to  pay  Court  charges,  which 
had  not  then  been  paid,  and  the  constables  were  backward 
to  make  distress  upon  them  if  they  could  shift  it  off.  Feb- 
ruary 9,  the  church  met,  and  purchased  their  meeting  house 
with  the  land  it  was  built  upon,  of  Philip  Squire  and  Ellis 
Callender,  for  sixty  pounds  ;  and  they  met  in  it  for  worship 
the  15th.  They  had  built  with  so  much  caution  as  not 
openly  to  call  it  by  that  name  till  it  was  done.  They  had 
been  often  censured  and  reproached  for  meeting  in  private 
houses,  but  now  say,  "  Since  we  have  for  our  convenience 
obtained  a  public  house  on  purpose  for  that  use,  we  are 
become  more  offensive  than  before."1  The  leaders  of  the 
society  were  convented  before  the  General  Court  of  May  10,2 
who,  not  finding  any  old  law  to  suit  their  term  then  made  a 
new  one,  in  these  words  : — 

It  is  ordered  by  the  Court  and  the  authority  thereof,  that  no  persons 
whatever,  without  the  consent  of  the  freemen  of  the  town  where  they  live, 
first  orderly  had,  and  obtained,  at  a  public  meeting  assembled  for  that  end, 
and  license  of  the  County  Court,  or  in  defect  of  such  consent,  a  license  by 

Russell,  p.  10.— B. 

2In  the  published  Massachusetts  Records,  the  date  of  this  transaction  is  May  28. 
—Ed. 


38-4  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  special  order  of  the  General  Court,  shall  erect  or  make  use  of  any 
house  as  above  Baid  ;  and  iu  case  any  person  or  persons  shall  be  convicted 
of  transgressing  this  law,  every  such  house  or  houses  wherein  such  persons 
shall  BO  meet  more  than  three  times,  with  the  land  whereon  such  house  or 
houses  stand,  and  all  private  ways  leading  thereto,  shall  be  forfeited  to  the 
use  of  t!.e  county,  and  disposed  of  by  the  County  Treasurer,  by  sale  or  de- 
molishing, as  the  Court  that  gives  judgment  iu  the  case  shall  order.1 

How  different  is  this  from  the  above  language  of  Gov- 
ernor Leete  !  But  instead  of  seeking  for  persecution  as 
Rogers  did,  this  peaceable  people  refrained  from  meeting  in 
their  own  house  for  the  present,  waiting  to  see  what  God 
wrould  do  for  them.  And  he  who  has  the  hearts  of  kings  in 
his  hand,  moved  their  king  to  write  to  the  Massachusetts 
rulers  on  July  24,  requiring  that  liberty  of  conscience 
should  be  allowed  to  all  Protestants,  so  as  they  might  not  be 
discountenanced  from  sharing  in  the  government,  much  less 
that  no  such  good  subjects  of  his,  for  not  agreeing  in  the 
congregational  way,  should  by  law,  "  be  subjected  to  fines 
or  forfeitures,  or  other  incapacities  for  the  same ;  which  is 
a  severity  to  be  the  more  wondered  at,  whereas  liberty  of 
conscience  was  made  a  [one]  principal  motive  for  your  first 
transportation  into  those  parts."2  Deplorable  indeed  was 
their  case  at  this  time.  Their  all  was  in  great  danger,  for 
doing  so  much  of  that  which  they  thought  Heaven  frowned 
upon  them  for  not  doing  more  of ;  and  it  was  evidently  the 
two  errors  I  have  mentioned  on  page  35,  which  brought 
them  into  this  dilemna.  Mr.  William  Hubbard,  whom  I 
have  so  often  quoted,  who  was  a  minister  at  Ipswich, 
preached  at  their  election  in  Boston,  May  3,  1()7()  ;  and  as 
the  permission  of  Quaker  meetings  had  been  declared  by 
many  ministers,  to  be  one  great  cause  of  God's  judgments 
upon  them,  which  had  stirred  up  the  Court  to  severity 
against  that  people,  he  plainly  gave  his  mind  to  the  con- 
trary ;  and  that  pride  and  worldly  mindedness  were  the 
greatest  evils  then  among  them  ;  yet  lest  Governor  Leverett 

'Maasachutettl  Records.  2Massachusctt>   History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  520. 


[1679.]  THE  REFOKMING  SYNOD  CALLED.  385 

and  his  Court  should  be  too  favorable  to  the  Baptists,  he,  in 
his  dedication  of  that  sermon  to  them,  page  6,  said,  "  If  he 
were  not  much  mistaken  who  said  it  is  morally  impossible 
to  rivet  the  Christian  religion  into  the  body  of  a  nation  with- 
out infant  baptism,  by  proportion  it  will  as  necessarily  fol- 
low, that  the  neglect  or  disuse  thereof,  will  as  directly  tend 
to  root  it  out."  And  Dr.  Increase  Mather,  who  yielded  to 
Mr.  Mitchel's  reasonings  about  the  Half-way  Covenant,  and 
took  the  lead  among  the  Massachusetts  ministers  after  his 
death,  in  that  capacity  now  moved  the  Assembly  to  convene 
what  they  called  The  Reforming  Synod.  First  they  kept  a 
general  fast  in  their  churches,  and  then  the  Synod  met  at 
Boston,  September  10, 1679,  to  answer  these  two  questions: 
1st.  What  are  the  evils  that  have  provoked  the  Lord  to 
bring  his  judgments  on  New  England  ]  2d.  "What  is  to  be 
done  that  so  these  evils  may  be  reformed  ? 

They  had  not  gone  far  in  their  answer  before  they  said : — 

Men  have  set  up  their  thresholds  by  God's  thresholds,  and  their  post  by 
his  post.  Quakers  are  false  worshippers  ;  and  such  Anabaptists  as  have 
risen  up  among  us,  in  opposition  to  the  churches  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  receiv- 
ing into  their  society  those  that  have  been  for  scandal  delivered  unto  Sa- 
tan ;  yea,  and  improving  those  as  administrators  of  holy  things,  who  have 
been  (as  doth  appear)  justly  under  [church]  censure,  do  no  better  than  set 
up  altar  against  the  Lord's  altar.  Wherefore  it  must  needs  be  provoking 
to  God,  if  these  things  be  not  duly  and  fully  testified  against,  by  every  one 
in  their  several  capacities. 

Their  result  was  approved  of  by  the  General  Court  on 
October  15,  which  commended  it  to  all  their  churches,  "  en- 
joining and  requiring  all  persons  in  their  respective  capaci- 
ties to  a  careful  and  diligent  reformation  of  all  those  pro- 
voking evils  mentioned  therein,  according  to  the  true  intent 
thereof,  that  so  the  anger  and  displeasure  of  God,  many  ways 
manifested,  might  be  averted  [from  this  poor  people;]  and  his 
favor  and  blessing  obtained."1 

Wagnalia,  B,  5.  pp.  87,  89,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  274,  275J  ;  I.  Mather's  Life,  p.  84.     Mr. 
Stoddard  informs  us,  that  in  this  Synod  "  they  had  a  dispute  about  persons  giving,  a 
relation  of  the  work  of  Gol's  Spirit  upon  their  hearts,  in  order  to  coming  to  com- 
25 


386  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

This  dreadful  charge,  coming  out  from  the  whole  power 
of  the  colony  against  one  small  society,  put  them  upon  a 
critical  review  of  their  past  conduct ;  and  they  found  that 
among  about  eighty  members  that  they  had  received,  there 
were  but  two  that  had  been  censured  in  those  other  churches 
(since  Mr.  Gould  and  Mr.  Osburne,  of  whom  we  have  before 
spoken)  one  of  whom  was  Mr.  Thomas  Foster,  of  Billerica, 
who,  for  turning  and  going  away  when  infants  were  sprinkled, 
and  for  going  at  last  and  joining  with  the  Baptists,  and  re- 
fusing, after  they  had  presented  him  to  Court,  to  return  to 
the   other   church,  was  censured  and  excommunicated  by 

amnion The  result  was,  that  they  blotted  out  that  clause,  ....  and  put  in  the 

room  of  it,  the  making  a  profession  of  their  faith  and  repentance ;  and  so  I  voted 
with  the  rest,  and  am  of  the  same  judgment  still."  That  is,  a  profession  of  a  saving 
change  should  not  be  required  before  they  come  to  communion.  Stoddard's  Appeal, 
p.  94.     Was  this  reformation,  or  was  it  apostacy? — B. 

Evidently  the  moving  spirit  in  this  Reforming  Synod,  was  Increase  Mather.  His 
son,  Cotton  Mather,  in  his  account  of  his  father's  life,  entitled,  "  Parentator,  Ke- 
markables  of  Dr.  Increase  Mather,"  pp.  84,  85,  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
Synod : — 

"  Upon  motion  of  Mr.  Mather,  in  conjunction  with  others  excited  by  him  first,  the 
General  Court  called  upon  the  churches  to  send  their  delegates  for  a  Synod  in  Bos- 
ton, to  consider  What  are  the  evils?  &c.  The  churches  having  first  kept  a  general 
fast,  that  a  gracious  direction  might  be  obtained  of  God  in  what  was  now  to  be  done, 
the  Synod  met  at  Boston,  September  10,  1G79.  The  Synod  also  kept  a  day  of  prayer 
with  fasting,  in  which  Mr.  Mather  was  chose  for  one  of  the  preachers  and  the  ven- 
erable old  Mr.  Cobbett  was  chose  for  the  other.  Several  days  were  then  spent  in 
free  discourses  on  the  two  questions,  and  at  last  a  result,  with  a  preface,  were  agreed 
unto,  which  were  of  Mr.  Mather's  drawing  up.  On  the  day  when  a  Committee  of 
the  ministers  presented  it  unto  the  General  Court,  Mr.  Mather  preached  a  very  po- 
tent sermon  on  the  danger  of  not  being  reformed  by  these  tilings  ;  and  the  General 
Court  thereupon  commended  it  unto  the  serious  consideration  of  all  the  churches 
and  people  of  the  jurisdiction." 

The  Mr.  Stoddard,  mentioned  in  the  above  note,  is  Solomon  Stoddard,  who  had 
succeeded  Elcazcr  Mather  as  pastor  of  the  church  in  Northampton,  where  he  was 
afterwards  .succeeded  by  his  grandson,  .Jonathan  Edwards.  The  full  title  of  his 
work  above  cited,  L8,  "Appeal  to  the  Learned;  being  a  vindication  of  the  right  of 
visible  saints  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  though  they  be  destitute  of  a  saving  work  of 
Cod's  Spirit  in  their  hearts;  against  the  exceptions  of  Mr.  Increase  Mather."  Mr. 
Stoddard  states  in  this  work,  page  94,  that  the  dispute  in  the  Synod,  on  the  question 
whether  persons,  in  order  to  be  received  to  full  communion,  should  be  required  to 
give  a  relation  of  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  in  their  hearts,  was  chiefly  between  Mr. 
Mather  on  the  affirmative,  and  himself  on  the  negative.  A  further  account  of  the 
sentiments  of  Solomon  Stoddard  on  these  points,  and  of  their  results,  will  be  given 
in  subsequent  pages. — En. 


[1679.]  AFFAIRS  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  BOSTON.  387 

them.  The  other  was  Mr.  Farnum,  who  was  the  only  one 
the  Baptists  had  received,  after  others  had  cast  him  out  ; 
which  was  from  the  North  Church  in  Boston,  where  Mr. 
Mayo  and  Dr.  Mather  were  ministers.  The  Baptists  now 
sent  and  obtained  copies  of  the  proceedings  of  that  church 
against  him,  whereby  it  appeared,  that  they  were  in  the 
height  of  their  dealings  with  him,  the  same  month  that  the 
Assembly  disfranchised  Gould  and  Osburne  for  constituting 
that  Baptist  church,  viz.,  in  October,  1665  ;  and  that  Far- 
num got  his  temper  up,  and  in  sundry  instances  spake  and 
acted  very  unadvisedly  ;  for  which  the  Baptists  now  required 
him  to  offer  satisfaction  to  that  church,  before  they  would 
commune  with  him  again.  This  he  soon  after  did.  Mr. 
Willard  owns  that  he  offered  a  confession  therefor  both  orally 
and  in  writing ;  but  because  he  refused  to  return  into  their 
communion  they  judged  it  not  to  be  sincere.  The  Baptists 
say  that  some  who  had  been  baptized  among  them  had  after- 
ward been  refused  communion  by  the  other  churches,  when 
they  had  desired  it.  To  which  Mr.  Willard  says,  "  They 
know  that  our  churches  have  received  some  that  were  scru- 
pulous  about  infant  baptism,  who  were  willing  to  carry  in- 
offensively ;  that  we  have  refused  such  as  were  re-baptized 
among  those  excommunicated  Anabaptists,  is  true  hypothet- 
ically,  viz.,  except  they  would  acknowledge  and  repent  of 
that  act;  because  we  judge  it  scandalous."1  Upon  which  I 
would  only  remark,  that  God  says,  He  that  doubteth  is 
damned  if  he  eat ;  but  the  Massachusetts  were  willing  to 
admit  persons  to  eat  with  scruples,  but  excommunicated  such 
as  put  their  full  persuasion  about  baptism  into  practice,  and 
judged  those  not  to  be  sincere,  who  would  not  repent  of  that 
act !  A  letter  at  this  time  to  their  Governor  deserves  no- 
tice, which  is  as  follows  : — 

Honored  Sir  : — I  have  often  heard  of  your  name  by  Colonel  Eyers, 
whose  first  wife's  name  was  Bradstreet ;  and  the  character  I  have  of  you, 
if  you  were  her  son,  relates  you  a  wise  and  understanding  man.     But  your 

Russell,  p,  10 ;  Willard,  p.  22. 


388  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

report  gives  you  as  though  some  Lauderdale's  counsel  had  possessed  you, 
which  set  all  Scotland  in  an  uproar.  God  is  wiser  than  man,  more  just 
and  righteous  ;  his  counsel  must  stand.  Beware  of  smiting  your  brethren, 
lost  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  England  invade  you.  A  parliament  is  near 
at  hand,  when  just  grievances  will  be  previously  [grievously?]  resented  ;  I 
hope  there  shall  be  noue  during  your  government.  Samson  plucked  a  house 
on  his  head,  and  fell  in  it.  If  I  can  serve  you  in  any  honorable  way,  com- 
mand your  humble  servant, 

Peter  Chamberlain, 
His  Majesty's  physician  in  ordinary  to  his  Royal  Person. 
September  2,  167U. 

Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard  sometime  after  sent  a  letter,  with  a 
copy  of  this,  to  Governor  Leete,  to  check  their  imprisoning 
the  Rogerses  at  New  London.     Notice  being  received  by  the 
Baptists  in  Boston,  of  the  king's  letter  in  their  favor,  they 
met  again  in  their  house  ;  but  had  not  so  done   above  four 
times  before  the  Court  met,  and  issued  a  warrant  to  the  con- 
stable of  Boston,  requiring  him,  "  in    his    Majesty's  name, 
forthwith  to  summon  Philip    Squire,   Thomas   Skinner,  and 
Mr.  Drinker,  to  make  their  appearance  before  the  Court  of 
Assistants  now  sitting,    having  liberty  to  bring   with  them 
three  or  four  more  of  their  friends,  to  give  an  account  t>f 
their  breach  of  the  law  in  erecting   a  meeting-house  ;  and 
that  they  appear   at   three   of   the  clock  this  instant  5th 
March,  1680."     They  appeared  accordingly,  and  the  Court 
required  a  positive  answer  to   the   question,    whether  they 
would  engage,  either  for  the   whole   society,  or   for  them- 
selves in  particular,  to  desist  from  meeting  in  said  house  till 
the  next  General  Court  1   They  said  they  were  not  prepared 
to  answer  it,  and   desired  time   to  consult   their  brethren. 
This  was  then  denied  them,  but  upon  renewing  the  request 
next  morning,  they  were   allowed  so  much   time  as  from 
Saturday  till  Monday.     The   church   met  on   Monday,  and 
presented  the  following  address,  viz.  : — 

To  the  honorable  the  Governor  and  magistrates  now  assembled  at  Bos- 
ton, at  the  Court  of  Assistants,  the  8th  of  March,  1680,  the  petition  and 
declaration  of  the  society  of  the  people  commonly  known  or  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  Baptists,  residing  in  and  about  Boston,  humbly  showeth, 


[1680.]  THE  BOSTON  BAPTIST  MEETING-HOUSE.  389 

In  primum,  that  whereas  the  only  wise  God,  having  by  his  providence 
led  us  into  that  order  and  way  of  the  gospel  of  gathering  into  church  fel- 
lowship, we  do  hereby  confess,  that  what  we  did  was  not  out  of  opposition 
to,  or  contempt  of,  the  churches  of  Christ  in  New  England,  but  in  a  holy 
imitation,  merely  for  the  better  enjoyment  of  the  liberty  of  our  consciences, 
the  great  motive  to  this  removal  at  first  into  this  wilderness.  2.  That  the 
building  a  convenient  place  for  our  public  church  assembly,  was  not  thought 
of  affronting  authority,  there  being  no  law  in  the  country  against  any  such 
practise  at  the  erecting  of  this  house,  and  we  did  therefore  think,  as  the 
apostle  saith,  where  there  is  no  law,  there  is  no  transgression.  The  dic- 
tates of  nature,  or  common  prudence  belonging  to  mankind,  and  the  exam- 
ple or  practice  of  the  country  throughout,  lead  to  the  seeking  of  this  con- 
venience. 3.  There  being  a  law  made  in  May  last  against  meeting  in  the 
place  built,  we  submitted  to  the  same,  until  we  fully  understood  by  letters 
from  several  in  London,  that  it  was  his  Majesty's  pleasure  and  command 
(the  common  supersedus  to  all  corporation  laws  in  the  English  nation,  that 
have  not  the  royal  assent1)  that  we  should  enjoy  liberty  of  our  meet- 
ings in  the  manner  as  other  of  his  Protestant  subjects  ;  and  the  General 
Court  at  their  last  meeting  not  having  voted  a  non-occurrence.  4.  As 
therefore  the  two  tribes  and  half  did  humbly  and  meekly  vindicate  them- 
selves, upon  the  erecting  of  their  altar,  when  challenged  for  it  by  Eleazer 
and  the  messengers  of  the  ten  tribes,  so  do  we  hereby  confess  in  like  mar- 
ner,  that  we  have  not  designed  by  this  act  any  contempt  of  authority,  nor 
any  departing  from  the  living  God,  or  churches  of  his  worship  ;  the  Lord 
God  of  gods  he  knows  it ;  Joshua  xxii,  22  ;  though  it  be  our  lot,  with 
the  apostles,  in  the  way  that  some  call  heresy  so  to  worship  the  God  of  our 
fathers.  Your  petitioners,  therefore,  having  no  design  against  the  peace  of 
this  place,  but  being  still  as  ready  as  ever  to  hazard  our  lives  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  people  of  God  here,  do  humbly  request  that  this  our  profes- 
sion and  declaration  may  find  acceptance  with  this  honorable  Court,  as  that 
of  the  two  tribes  did  with  Eleazer  ;  and  that  we  may  still,  through  your 
allowance  and  protection,  enjoy  the  liberty  of  God's  worship,  in  such 
places  as  God  hath  afforded  us,  which  will  greatly  oblige  your  petitioners, 
as  in  duty  bound,  humbly  to  pray. 

Signed  by  us  in  the  name  and  with  the  consent  of  the  church. 

Isaac  Hull, 
John  Russell, 
Edward  Drinker, 
Thomas  Skinner." 

'Their  charter  was  originally  designed  for  a  corporation  in  England,  to  be  execu- 
ted only  by  a  deputation  in  this  country,  as  the  King  observes  in  the  letter  referred 
to.     Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  519. 


390  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

But  instead  of  having  any  ears  to  hear  this  loyal  and 
Christian  address,  their  marshal  was  sent,  and  finding  their 
gate  locked,  forced  his  way  through  Mr.  Squire's  ground i 
and  nailed  up  their  meeting-house  doors,  putting  a  paper 
thereon  which  said  : — 

All  persons  are  to  take  notice,  that  by  order  of  the  Court  the  doors  of 
this  house  are  shut  up,  and  that  they  are  iuhibited  to  hold  any  meeting 
therein,  or  to  open  the  doors  thereof,  without  license  from  authority,  till 
the  General  Court  take  further  order,  as  they  will  answer  the  contrary  at 
their  peril. 

Dated  in  Boston,  8th  March,  1680. 

By  order  of  the  Council,  tt>  -o  o 

J  Edward  Rawson,  Secretary. 

The  Baptists  required  a  copy  of  the  marshal's  warrant, 
but  he  refused  it ;  they  then  went  to  the  Secretary  for  one, 
who  plainly  told  them,  "  he  was  not  to  let  them  have  any." 
They  met  the  next  Lord's  day  in  their  yard,  and  in  the  week 
ensuing  prepared  a  shed  therein  for  the  purpose  ;  but  when 
they  came  together  the  second  Lord's  day,  they  found  the 
doors  open  ;  and  considering,  say  they,  "  that  the  Court  had 
not  done  it  legally,  and  that  wre  were  denied  a  copy  of  the  con- 
stable's order  and  marshal's  warrant,  we  concluded  to  go  into 
our  house,  it  being  our  own,  having  a  civil  right  to  it."  And 
they  met  therein  till  the  Assembly  sat,  before  whom  they 
were  convented  on  May  11  ;  when  they  gave  in  these 
pleas  : — 

1.  The  house  was  our  own.  2.  It  was  built  before  the  law  was  made, 
therefore  no  transgression.  3.  The  express  will  and  pleasure  of  the  king, 
that  we  should  enjoy  our  liberty.  After  some  debate  of  the  matter  (in 
which  we  met  with  some  hard  and  reviling  speeches  from  some  of  them) 
we  were  dismissed  for  that  time.  Next  morning  we  put  up  a  humble  peti- 
tion, (being  blamed  by  some  in  the  Court  that  we  had  not  done  it  before) 
that  there  might  be  a  suspension  of  any  proceedings  against  us. 

These  accounts  I  have  taken  from  their  church  records 
and  papers.  On  the  colony  records,  under  May  19,  I  find 
it  thus  written,  viz. : — 

After  the  Court  had  heard  their  answer  and  plea,  perused  their  petition 
aud  what  else  was  produced,  the  parties  were   [the  persons  being]    called 


[1680,]  LETTER  FROM  WILLIAM  KIFFEN  AND  OTHERS.  391 

in,  the  Court's  sentence  in  the  name  of  the  Court  was  published  to  them  ; 
that  the  Court,  in  answer  to  their  petition,  judged  it  meet  and  ordered,  that 
the  petitioners  be  admonished  by  the  present  honored  Governor  for  their 
offence,  and  so  granted  them  their  petition,  so  far  as  to  forgive  them  their 
offence  past,  but  still  prohibited  them  as  a  society  of  themselves,  or  joined 
with  others,  to  meet  in  that  public  place  they  have  built,  or  any  [other] 
public  house  except  such  as  are  allowed  by  lawful  authority  ;  and  accord- 
ingly the  Governor  in  open  Court  gave  them  their  admonition. 

Dr.  Mather  had  published  a  piece  the  preceding  March, 
entitled,  The  Divine  Right  of  Infant  Baptism,  containing  some 
injurious  reflections  upon  this  people  ;  which,  with  others, 
were  briefly  answered  in  Mr.  Russell's  Narrative,  dated  from 
Boston  the  20th  of  this  month,  with  the  consent  of  the 
whole  church,  and  sent  to  London,  where  Messrs.  William 
KifFen,  Daniel  Dyke,  William  Collins,  Hansard  Knollys, 
John  Harris  and  Nehemiah  Cox,  noted  Baptist  ministers, 
wrote  a  preface  to  it,  in  which  they  say : — 

As  for  our  brethren  of  the  Congregational  way  in  old  England,  both 
their  principles  and  practice  do  equally  plead  for  our  liberties  as  for  their 
own  ;  and  it  seems  strange  that  such  of  the  same  way  in  New  England, 
yea,  even  such  (a  generation  not  yet  extinct,  or  the  very  next  successors  of 
them)  who  with  liberal  estates  chose  rather  to  depart  from  their  native 
soil  into  a  wilderness,  than  be  under  the  imposition  and  lash  of  those,  who 
upon  religious  pretences  took  delight  to  smite  their  fellow  servants,  should 
exercise  towards  others  the  like  severity  that  themselves  with  so  great  haz- 
ard and  hardship  sought  to  avoid  ;  especially  considering  that  it  is  against 
their  brethren,  who  avowedly  profess  and  appeal  to  the  same  rule  with 
themselves  for  their  guidauce  in,  and  decision  of,  all  matters  relating  to  the 

worship  of  God,  and  the  ordering  of  their  whole  conversation For 

one  Protestant  congregation  to  persecute  another,  where  there  is  no  pre- 
tence to  infallibility  in  the  decision  of  all  controversies,  seems  much  more 
unreasonable  than  the  cruelties  of  the  church  of  Rome  towards  them  that 
depart  from  their  superstitions  :  and  if  prejudices  were  removed  and  op- 
portunities of  power  not  abused,  but  the  golden  rule  of  our  Saviour  were 
duly  attended  unto  and  rightly  applied  in  the  present  case,  certainly  more 
moderation,  yea,  even  compassion  would  be  exercised  towards  these  our 
Christian  friends  by  such  as  now  give  them  trouble. 

They  close  with  observing  That  Dr.  Stillingstreet  had 
already  declared  in  his  Mischief  of  Separation,  that   their 


392  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

rigorous  course  against  Congregationalists  in  England,  was 
justified  by  the  process  of  the  rulers  here,  against  dissenters 
from  themselves  ;  and  pray  that  the  governors  of  New  Eng- 
land would  regard  their  brethren  there,  so  much  as  to  remit 
these  proceedings.  What  was  said  in  answer  thereto,  we 
shall  see  presently,  after  I  have  observed,  that  Elder  llussell 
was  taken  from  his  beloved  flock  by  death,  December  21, 
1680  ;  upon  which  the  church  met  the  next  day,  and  agreed 
that  their  brother  Callender,  should  be  helpful  in  carrying 
on  their  worship  in  Boston,  on  Lord's  days  in  the  forenoon, 
and  brother  Drinker  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  absence  of 
Elder  Hull.  It  is  evident,  that  the  gifts  and  graces  of  Elder 
llussell  were  not  small ;  and  his  memory  is  precious.  His 
grand-daughter  Brooks,  married  in  Swanzey,  whose  sons, 
Job,1  Russell  and  John  Mason  have  been,  and  the  two  lat- 
ter still  are,  useful  gospel  preachers  in  the  Second  Baptist 
church  in  that  town.  Also  Messrs.  Joseph,  William  and 
Jonathan  Russell,  now  noted  traders  in  Providence,  are  of 
his  posterity. 

In  1681,  a  minister  of  the  church  of  Boston,  which  was 
formed  in  a  schismatical  way  in  1669,  published  an  answer 
to  the  Baptist's  Narrative  ;  and  though  its  author  was  de- 
ceased, yet  he  entitled  it,  "  Ne  sutor  ultra  crepklam  :2  or  brief 
animadversions  upon  the  New  England  Anabaptists'  late 
fallacious  Narrative  ;  wherein  the  notorious  mistakes  and 
falsehoods  by  them  published,  are  detected ;  by  Samuel 
Willard,  &c."  To  which  he  adds  as  a  motto,  Romans  16. 
17,  18.  Dr.  Increase  Mather  wrote  a  preface  to  this  work, 
wherein  he  says  : — 

Many  are  of  the  mind,  that  it  is  not  worth   the   while,   to  take  notice  of 

what  is  emitted   by  men  so  obscure  and  inconsiderable It  seems  to  me 

that  the  reverend  author  of  the  following  animadversions,  hath  shewed 
humility,  in  condescending  to  take  persons  in  hand,  between  whom  and 
himself  there  is  such  an    impar   congressus As   for  the   brethren,    that 

'Elder  Job  Mason    died  since  this  history  was  in  the  press,  aged  80. 
'Cobbler,  keep  to  your  last. 


[1681.]  MATHER'S  REPLY  TO  RUSSELL.  393 

have  thought  good  to  prefix  an  epistle  to  such  a  narrative,  and  therein  de- 
clare that  molestation  is  given  and  severity  is  exercised  towards  Antipaedo- 
baptists  in  New  England,  merely  for  a  supposed  error  about  the  subject  of 
baptism,  controverted  amongst  learned  and  holy  men,  they  are  marvel- 
ously  deceived  in  that  their  supposition.  Protestants  ought  not  to  perse- 
cute any,  yet,  that  protestants  may  punish  protestants,  and  as  the  case  may 
be  circumstanced,  a  congregation  of  such  as  call  themselves  protestants, 
cannot  rationally  be  denied.  Those  of  the  Congregational  way,  fully  con- 
cur with  the  old  puritan  nonconformists,  such  as  Cartwright,  Rainold, 
Whitaker,  Bains,  Parker,  &c,  in  whose  writings  Congregational  principles 
about  church  government,  are  to  be  seen.1  Now  the  old  nonconformists 
(notwithstanding  their  sufferings  from  those  that  took  delight  to  smite  their 
fellow  servants)  did  believe  that  disorders  in  whole  congregations  were  lia- 
ble to  the  civil  magistrate's  censure.  •  •  •  •  Our  famous  Cotton  was  another 
Moses,  in  respect  of  meekness  and  Christian  forbearance,  as  to  dissenters 
from  his  judgment  in  matters  of  a  lesser  concernment,  yet  would  he  some- 
times make  a  zealous  protestation,  that  if  magistrates  in  New  England 
should  tolerate  transgressors  against  the  rules  of  godliness  (as  well  as 
offences  contrary  to  what  the  rules  of  honesty  require)    he   believed  that 

God  would  not  long  tolerate  them I  would  entreat  the   brethren  that 

have  subscribed  the  epistles  seriously  to  consider;  1.  That  the  place  may 
sometimes  make  a  great  alteration  as  to  the  indulgence  to  be  expected.  It 
is  evident,  that  that  toleration  is  in  one  place,  not  only  lawful,  but  a  neces- 
sary duty,  which  in  another  place  would  be  destructive  ;  and  the  expecta- 
tion of  it  irrational.  That  which  is  needful  to  ballast  a  great  ship,  will 
sink  a  small  boat.', . .  .2.  Let  them  consider,  that  those  of  their  persuasion 
in  this  place  have  acted  with  so  much  irregularity  and  profaneness,  that 
should  men  of  any  persuasion  whatsoever  have  done  the  like,  the  same 
severity  would  have  been  used  towards  them. 

This  hard  sentence  his  son  has  propagated  to  posterity.2 
But,  search  through  all  they  have  said  against  those  peo- 
ple, and  I  am  confident  that  the  greatest  real  disorder  they 

^hese  are  the  men  referred  to  in  page  9,  who  opened  a  door  for  Mr.  Robinson  and 
his  brethren,  by  which  themselves  entered  not.  Their  first  Admonition  to  the  Par- 
liament, was  presented  thereto  by  Mr.  John  Field  and  Mr.  Wilcox;  for  which  they 
were  committed  to  Newgate  Prison,  on  October  2,  1572.  This  caused  Mr.  Thomas 
Cartwright  to  write  the  Second  Admonition  to  Parliament,  quoted  by  Mr.  Robinson, 
and  also  to  answer  what  Dr.  Whitgift  had  written  against  the  first.  And  Mr.  Neal 
says,  the  reason  why  they  could  not  settle  the  controversy,  was  because  Cartwright 
was  for  making  his  Bible  the  only  standard  of  doctrine,  discipline  and  government ; 
but  Whitgift  held  the  latter  of  these  to  be  changeable,  to  accommodate  the  civil 
governments  we  live  under.  History  of  the  Puritans,  Vol.  I,  pp.  190—197.  [300 
—307.] 

2Magnalia,  B.  7,  p.  28.  [Vol.  II,  p.  461.] 


394  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

have  produced,  was  the  church's  receiving  Farnum  as  they 
did  ;  which,  when  they  had  proper  knowledge  of,  they  rec- 
tified. But  is  this  comparable  to  the  disorders  at  Hingham, 
twenty  years  before,  where  Lieut.  Eames  was  regularly  cho- 
sen their  Captain,  and  presented  to  the  Court  for  a  commis- 
ion  ;  but  soon  upon  it,  a  notion  was  started  to  choose  another 
man,  related  to  the  minister,  into  that  office,  who  accord- 
ingly was  chosen  and  presented.  And  when  the  reason  of 
it  was  asked  for,  they  said  Eames  had  resigned ;  but  he  said 
he  had  not.  Hereupon  the  minister  censured  him  for  lying  ; 
and  this  cost  three  or  four  days'  tedious  labors  of  a  council, 
without  being  able  to  settle  it ;  and  occasioned  the  petition 
of  Dr.  Child  and  others,  with  much  trouble  to  Governor 
Winthrop  and  the  Assembly.1  Yet  the  issue  of  all  was, 
that  the  minister  of  Hingham  excommunicated  Captain 
Eames,  contrary  to  the  minds  of  other  ministers,  and  by  their 
advice,  "  those  that  were  without  just  cause  cast  out  at 
Hingham,  were  received  into  the  church  of  Weymouth,  the 
next  town,  and  the  matter  so  continued  through  the  stiff- 
ness of  their  minds,  and  their  self-willed  resolutions."2 
In  the  piece  upon  infant  baptism,  which  Dr.   Mather  had 

Seepage  116. 

■Winthrop,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  261,  278,  285—295,  321.]  Hubbard,  [pp.  417—419.] 
Neal,  Vol.  I,  p.  233.  How  just  also  was  it  for  both  ministers  and  courts  to  accuse 
that  Baptist  church,  of  having  excommunicated  officers,  in  the  plural,  when  they 
never  had  but  one  ? — B. 

This  difficulty  with  Dr.  Childs  was  folio  ved  by  another  on  the  question  of  ''  the 
enlargement  of  privileges,"  which  was  a  long  and  grievous  trouble  to  Governor 
Winthrop  and  the  General  Court.  Finally  Dr.  Childs  and  his  sympathizers  carried 
their  complaint  to  England,  where  their  cause  was  presented  in  a  pamphlet  entitled 
"New  England's  Jonas  cast  up  at  London."  It  is  reprinted  in  Massachusetts 
Historical  Collections,  Second  scries,  Vol.  IV.  This  was  answered  by  Mr.  Winslow, 
in  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  The  Salamander,"  intimating  that  the  opposite  party 
were  never  at  rest  except  they  were  in  the  fires  of  contention.  It  is  to  this  latter 
difficulty  that  the  above-cited  passages  from  Winthrop  and  Neal  refer.  Savage 
(Winthrop,  Vol.  II,  p.  292,)  charges  Hutchinson  (Vol.  I.  p.  138,)  with  being  mis- 
led by  Mather  to  confound  the  two  controversies ;  and  Backus,  by  the  references  he 
gives,  might  seem  obnoxious  to  the  same  charge.  But  similar  questions  were  agi- 
tated in  both  controversies,  and  the  one  was  doubtless  the  outgrowth  of  the 
other. — Ed. 


[1681.]  UNEDUCATED  BAPTIST  MINISTERS.  395 

published,  he  accused  those  Baptists  of  the  sin  of  Jeroboam, 
who  made  priests  of  the  lowest  of  the  people  j1  in  which, 
says  Mr.  Russell,  "  we  easily  understand  what  he  means  ;" 
our  evil  in  this  respect,  is  our  calling  to  office  those  who 
have  not  been  bred  up  in  colleges,  and  taught  in  other  lan- 
guages, but  have  been  bred  to  other  callings.  It  is  not 
because  we  are  against  learning,  for  we  esteem  it,  and  honor 
it  in  its  place  ;  and  if  we  had  such  among  us  who  were 
together  with  that,  other  ways  duly  qualified  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  we  should  readily  choose  them.  But  we  do 
not  think  the  Spirit  of  God  is  locked  up  so  in  the  narrow 
limits  of  college  learning,  that  none  are  to  be  called  to  office 
in  a  church  but  such,  nor  that  all  such  are  fit  for  that  work, 
be  they  never  so  great  scholars ;  neither  do  we  think  that 
all  those  who  have  not  that  learning,  are  to  be  accounted 
the  lowest  of  the  people.  Indeed,  the  priesthood  was 
bounded  to  the  tribe  of  Levi,  by  divine  institution,  but  we 
cannot  find  that  the  Lord  hath,  by  divine  institution,  given 
the  work  of  the  ministry  to  men  of  such  learning  only. 
Whom  he  will  he  fits  and  qualifies  for  that  work;  neither 
are  we  left  without  a  plain  rule  in  the  New  Testament  to 
direct  us  in  this  matter.2  In  these  plain  gospel  sentiments 
have  the  Baptists,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  persevered 
to  this  day.  But  his  opponent  said  of  the  text  referred  to  : — 

The  Belgic  and  others  read  it,  "  Of  both  ends  of  the  people  ;"  if  a  fit 
man  would  accept  it,  so  ;  if  not,  to  the  other  end,  and  take  one  unfit. 
The  Anabaptists  would  have  a  learned  man  if  they  could  get  one  of  their 
mind;  if  not,  John  Russell  the  shoemaker Truly,  if  Goodman  Rus- 
sell was  a  fit  man  for  a  minister,  we  have  but  fooled  ourselves  in  building 
colleges,    and  instructing  children  in  learning.3 

^he  Divine  Right  of  Infant  Baptism  asserted,  and  proved  from  Scripture  and 
Antiquity,  page  26. — Ed. 

2Russell,  p.  14. 

3Willard,  p.  26.— B. 

Cotton  Mather  repeats  the  argument  of  his  father  and  Mr.Willard  as  follows  : — 

"They  did  seem  to  do  what  Jeroboam  was  taxed  for,  in  making  priests  of  the 
lowest  of  the  people ;  or,  as  the  Belgic  and  others  do  read  it,  Of  both  ends  of  the 
people ;  and  as  the, learned  Zepperus  lamented  the  wrong  done  to  religion  in  it,  that 


396  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Here  is  a  plain  specimen  of  what  many  call  learning, 
though  the  truly  learned  apostle  Paul,  renounced  it  with 
abhorrence  ;  2  Corinthians  4.  2.  Either  those  who  have  a 
college  education,  are  thereby  made  the  head  of  the  people, 
and  the  rest  are  to  be  ranked  to  the  other  end,  or  else  this  is 
a  handling  the  word  of  God  deceitfully  ;  and  God  says, 
"  The  prophet  that  teacheth  lies,  he  is  the  tail." 

Again,  the  Baptists  had  said  in  their  confession  of  faith, 
that  those  who  gladly  receive  the  word  and  are  baptized, 
are  saints  by  calling,  and  fit  matter  of  a  visible  church.1 
This  Dr.  Mather  called  a  pernicious  principle.2  But  says 
Mr.  Russell  : — 

Who  dare  deny  this  to  be  a  sound  truth?  as  for  the  conclusion  he  draws 
from  thence,  viz.,  that  there  are  no  visible  believers  but  those  that  are  bap- 
tized, [it]  is  his  own,  not  ours  ;  the  improvement  he  makes  of  it,  not  what 
we  make  of  it.  Far  be  it  from  us  to  judge  all  that  are  not  baptized,  not  to  be 
visible  saints,  for  we  judge  that  the  Lord  hath  many  precious  people  in  the 
world  that  are  not  baptized,  according  to,  or  in  the  manner  we  baptize  ;  and 
further  we  judge  they  should  be  visible  saints,  before  baptized,  or  else  they 
have  no  right  to  baptism,  for  it  is  not  baptism  that  can  make  saints.  And  as 
for  looking  upon  infant  baptism  as  nothing,  or  a  nullity,3  that  is  true  ;  and  we 
can  look  on  it  no  otherwise,  till  we  see  light  to  own  it  to  be  that  which  he 
thinks  of  it,  viz.,  of  divine  right,  which  we  cannot  see  ground  from  the  word 
to  do  ;  and  as  for  not  owning  their  churches, .  . .  .we  never  yet  denied  them 
to  be  churches  of  Christ.  It  is  enough  for  every  one  to  prove  his  own 
work  ;  but  we  have  owned  them  as  such  ;  for  where  there   is  true  matter 

they  make  ministros  de  extremitatibus populi,  sartoribus,  sutoribus,  idiotis,  taylors 
and  cobblers,  and  other  niechanicks  to  be  ministers,  tbus  these  people  chose  an 
honest  shooemaker  to  be  their  pastor,  and  used  other  meehanicks  in  the  constant 
preaching  of  the  gospel;  which  caused  some  other  people  of  a  more  liberal  educa- 
tion to  reflect  that  if  Goodman  such  an  one,  and  Gaffer  such  an  one,  were  fit  for 
ministers,  we  had  befool'd  ourselves  in  building  of  colleges."  Magnalia,  Book  VII; 
Vol.  II,  p.  4G0.—  Ed. 

'"Christ's  commission  to  his  disciples i£  to  teach  and  baptize  ;  and  those  who  gladly 
receive  the  word  and  are  baptized,  are  his  by  calling,  and  tit  matter  for  a  visible 
church;  and  a  competent  number  of  such,  joined  together  in  covenant  and  fellow- 
ship of  the  gospel,  are  a  church  of  Christ."  Articles  of  Faith  of  the  First  Baptist 
church,  Boston;   1665. — Ed. 

2I)i vine  Right    of  Infant  Baptism;  p.  2G. — Ed. 

aIn  connection  with  what  has  already  been  quoted,  Dr.  Mather  had  said,  "  Now 
they  look  upon  infant  baptism  as  a  mere  nullity,  or,  as  the  apostle  saith  of  an  idol, 
that  it  is  nothing  in  the  world."     Divine  Right,  &c,  p.  2G. — Ed.  . 


[1681.]  WILLARD  AND  HUBBARD  AGAINST  RUSSELL.  397 

joined  together  in  the  bond  of  a  holy  covenant  they  may  be   looked  at  as  a 
true  church,  though  not  in  due  order.1 

This  was  not  enough  for  the  other  party,  but  their  cry 
still  was : — 

They  say  baptized  persons  are  true  matter  of  a  visible  church,  and  they 
say  those  that  were  only  sprinkled  in  their  infancy,  were  never  baptized  ; 
and  will  not  this  undermine  the  foundation  of  all  the  churches  in  the  world 
but  theirs  ?  and  what  more  pernicious  !  they  had  even  as  good  cry  with 
Edom's  sons,  Eaze  it,  raze  it  to  the  foundation  !  .  . . .  Experience  tells  us 
that  such  a  rough  thing  as  a  New  England  Anabaptist  is  not  to  be  handled 
over  tenderly  ;  the  spirit  which  they  have  at  all  times  discovered  under  the 
greatest  disadvantages  (and  God  grant  that  they  may  never  have  more  ad- 
vantage over  us)  easily  tells  us  what  they  would  have  been  if  circumstanced 
as  those  whom  they  accuse.2 

Mr.  Hubbard  got  the  most  out  of  temper  upon  this  occa- 
sion that  he  ever  did  in  a  whole  volume  in  folio,  and  said: — 

One  John  Russell,  a  wedderdrop'd  shoemaker,  ....  stitched  up  a  small 
pamphlet,  ....  wherein  he  endeavors  to  clear  the  innocency  of  those  com- 
monly (though  falsely  he  says)  called  Anabaptists.  Surely  he  was  not  well 
aware  of  the  old  adage,  Ne  sutor  ultra  crepidamf  or  else  he  would  not  have 
made  such  botching  work. 

He  goes  on  to  recite  what  you  may  see  of  the  Simple  Cob- 
bler, in  page  154,  which  he  calls  Honest  stitches  used  to 
much  better  purpose.  But  having  taken  the  old  round  to 
Germany,  he  recovers  his  senses  again,  and  then  says: — 

To  return  to  what  was  in  hand,  and  give  this  gospel-ordered  church  (as 
John  Russell  terms  them)  what  is  their  due,  from  an  historian  ;  as  for  the 
persons  of  those  seven  [first  males  of  the  church]  he  apologizes  for,  it  may 

'Russell,  page  14.  2Willard,  pp.  10,  27. 

3It  was  truly  of  some  age ;  for  after  James  I.  had  preached  in  the  Star-Chamber, 
"that  the  mystery  of  the  king's  power  is  not  lawful  to  be  disputed;  for  that  is  to 
wade  into  the  weakness  of  princes,  and  to  take  away  the  mystical  reverence  that 
belongs  to  those  who  sit  in  the  throne  of  God ;  ....  it  is  atheism  and  blasphemy 
to  dispute  what  God  can  do ;  ....  so  is  it  presumption  and  high  contempt  in  a  sub- 
ject to  dispute  what  a  king  can  do  or  say;"  he,  the  year  after  our  fathers  first  came 
to  Plymouth,  reprimanded  his  parliament  for  petitioning  against  his  taking  a  popish 
wife  for  his  son  Charles,  and  said,  "A  small  mistaking  of  matters  of  this  nature, 
may  produce  more  effects  than  can  be  imagined ;  therefore,  Ne  sutor  ultra  crepi- 
damr     Rapin,  Yol.  II,  pp.  192,  211.  [London,  1729,  Vol.  IX,  pp.  393,485.] 


398  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

be  more  easily  granted  that  they  were  good  in  the  main,  than  that  it  was  a 

good  work  for  God,  they  were  engaged  in Good  men  may  be  found 

to  be  ill  employed  ;  as  Peter  was,  whom  Christ  rebukes  and  calls  Satan, 
and  bids  him  get  behind  him.  Whether  any  of  them  did  absolutely  de- 
serve to  be  delivered  to  Satan,  for  their  obstinacy  in  their  opinions,  or 
rather  miscarriages,  which  either  through  weakness  of  their  judgments,  or 
strength  of  their  passions,  which  in  defence  of  their  opinions  or  practices 
they  run  into  ;  or  whether  there  were  not  more  acrimony  of  the  salt,  than 
Sweetness  of  the  gospel  spirit  of  peace,  in  those  that  managed  the  disci- 
pline of  the  church  against  some  of  them,  ....  must  not  be  here  discussed. 
....  Yet  that  can  give  no  color  to  ....  a  few  giddy  sectaries,  that  foudly 
conceit  themselves  to  be  an  orderly  church,  when  their  very  constitution 
[coalition]  is  explicitly,  not  only  without,  but  against,  the  consent  of  all  the 
rest  of  the  churches  in  the  places,  [place]  as  well  as  the  order  of  the  civil 
authority.1 

I  love  to  see  honesty  even  if  persons  are  erroneous  ;  for 
then  we  have  an  advantage  to  judge  for  ourselves,  and  to 
know  the  better  how  to  deal  with  them.  And  I  must  say 
that  Governor  Winthrop,  from  whom  Mr.  Hubbard  took 
many  things,  exceeded  him  in  that  noble  quality  ;  and  that 
Mr.  Hubbard  exceeded  all  the  historians  I  have  seen  who 
have  copied  from  him,  except  the  pious  Mr.  Prince.  Others 
have  often  given  us  hard  names  without  explaining  what 
they  meant  by  them  ;  but  Mr.  Hubbard  plainly  tells  us  that 
soon  after  Mr.  Cotton's  arrival  at  Boston, — 

The  ministers  [about  Boston  .  . . .  ]  did  use  to  meet  once  a  fortnight  at  one 
of  their  houses  in  course,  where  some  question  of  moment  was  debated.  Mr. 
Skelton,  pastor  of  Salem,  and  Mr.  Williams  (as  yet  not  ordained  an  [any] 
officer  there],  out  of  a  rigid  separation  jealousy,  took  exception  at  it  ;  prog- 
nosticating that  it  might  in  time  bring  forth  a  presbytery,  or  superiutendency, 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  churches'  liberties.  (A  spirit  of  rigid  separation  had,  it 
seems,  BO  early  fly-blown  their  understandings)  ....  the  venom  of  which 
spirit  had  soon  after  infected  so  many  of  that  church  and  people  at  Salem, 
as  will  appear  in  the  next  chapter.  But  this  fear  was  without  cause;  nor 
did  it  spring  from  a  godly  jealousy,  but  from  the  bitter  root  of  pride,  that 
venteth  itself  above  order,  and  against  love  and  peace.  No  such  spirit  was 
ever  observed  to  appear  in  Mr.  Cotton's  days,  but  a  spirit  of  love  and 
meekness,  nor  since  his  time,  to  the  present  year.2 

']  Hubbard,  pp.  624— 627.— Ed. 

"Hubbard,  pp.  189,  190.— Ed. 


[1681.]  FABLE  OF  THE  WOLF  AND  LAMB.  399 

And  though  the  author  of  the  Massachusetts  History, 
approves  of  Mr.  Williams's  opinion  about  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  fixes  upon  his  moving  Mr.  Endicott  to  cut  the 
cross  out  of  the  training  colors,  as  the  best  plea  he  could 
make  for  their  banishing  of  him  ;l  yet  Mr.  Hubbard  honestly 
says,  "  This  essay  did  but  tick  at  some  of  the  upper  branches, 
whereas  Mr.  Williams  laid  his  axe  at  the  very  root  of  the 
magisterial  power  in  matters  of  the  first  table,  which  he 
drove  on  at  such  a  rate,  that  many  agitations  were  occasioned 
thereby,  that  pulled  down  ruin  upon  himself,  friends  and  his 
poor  family."2  Now  if  the  reader  will  look  back  to  pages 
131,  148,  and  compare  that  with  their  actings  down  to  this 
time,  he  will  have  a  fair  opportunity  to  know  the  meaning 
of  the  terms,  Rigid  separation,  Turbulent  Anabaptists,  Giddy 
sectaries,  &c,  as  they  were  often  used  by  that  party. 

Mr.  Williams  closed  his  second  plea  for  religious  liberty, 
with  an  address  to  the  popish,  prelatical,  Presbyterian  and 
Independent  clergy  of  the  whole  kingdom,  wherein  he  makes 
use  of  the  fable  or  similitude  of  a  "  wolf  and  a  poor  lamb 
coming  down  to  drink  at  the  same  stream  together." 

The  wolf,  cruel  and  strong,  drinks  above  and  aloft ;  the  lamb,  innocent 
and  weak,  drinks  upon  the  stream  below  ;  the  wolf  questions  aud  quarrels 
the  lamb  for  corrupting  and  defiling  the  waters  ;  the  lamb  (not  daring  to 
plead  how  easily  the  wolf,  drinking  higher,  might  transfer  defilement 
downward,  but)  pleads  improbability  aud  impossibility,  that  the  waters 
descending  could  convey  defilement  upwards  ;  this  is  the  controversy,  this 
the  plea  ;  but  who  shall  judge?  Be  the  lamb  never  so  innocent,  his  plea 
never  so  just,  his  adversary,  the  wolf,  will  be  his  judge,  and  being  so  cruel 
and  so  strong,  soon  tears  the  lamb  in  pieces.  Thus  the  cruel  beast,  armed 
with  the  power  of  the  kings,  Rev.  17,  sits  judge  ia  his  own  quarrels  against 
the  lamb,  about  the  drinking  at  the  waters.  And  thus  (saith  Mr.  Cotton) 
the  judgments  ought  to  pass  upon  the  heretic,  not  for  matter  of  conscience 
but  for  sinning  against  his  conscience. 

Objection.  Methinks  I  hear,  the  great  charge  against  the  Independent 
party  to  be  great  pleaders  for  liberty  of  conscience,  &c.  Answer.  Oh, 
the  horrible  deceit  of  the  hearts  of  the  sons  of  men  !  And  what  excellent 
physic  can  we  prescribe  to  others,  till,  as  Job  said,  our  soul  comes  to  be  in 

'Hutchinson,  Vol.  I,  p.  41. -Ed.  'Hubbard,  pp.  189,  190.— Ed. 


400  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

their  souls'  cases?  What  need  have  we  to  be  more  vile,  with  Job,  before 
God,  to  walk  in  a  holy  sense  of  self-insufficiency,  to  cry  for  the  blessed  lead- 
ings of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  to  guide  and  lead  our  heads  and  hearts  up- 
rightly ! 

He  then  goes  on  to  shew,  that  each  of  these  denomina- 
tions had  been  sufferers  in  their  turns,  and  when  so,  had  al- 
ways complained  of  it,  and  pleaded  for  liberty  to  their  own 
consciences  ;  and  then  says  : — 

New  England  laws,  lately  published  in  Mr.  Clarke's  Narrative,  tell  how 
free  it  shall  be  for  people  to  gather  themselves  into  church  estate,  how  free 
to  choose  their  own  ministers,  how  free  to  enjoy  all  the  ordinances  of  Christ  ; 
but  yet,  provided  (so  and  so)  upon  the  point,  that  the  civil  state  must  judge 
of  the  spiritual,  to  wit,  whether  persons  be  fit  for  church  estate,  whether 
the  gathering  be  right,  whether  the  people's  choice  be  right,  doctrines  right ; 
and  what  is  this  in  truth,  but  to  swear  that  blasphemous  oath  of  supremacy 
again,  to  the  kings  and  queens  and  magistrates  of  this  and  other  nations, 
instead  of  the  pope  !  Into  these  prisons  and  cages,  do  those,  otherwise  ex- 
cellent men,  the  Independents,  put  the  children  of  God,  and  all  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  aud  then  bid  them  fly  and  walk  at  liberty  (to  wit,  within  the 
conjured  circle)  so  far  as  they  please.1 

Toward  the  close  of  this  year  Mr.  Miles  came  again  and 
ministered  a  while  to  his  brethren  in  Boston.  And  Mr. 
Sprague,  who  in  those  times  joined  the  Baptist  church  in 
Providence,  in  writing  to  the  Massachusetts  many  years  after, 

says : — 

Why  do  you  strive  to  persuade  the  rising  generation,  that  you  never  per- 
secuted nor  hurt  the  Baptists,  which  is  so  apparently  false  ?  .  . . .  Did  you 
not  barbarously  scourge  Mr.  Baker  in  Cambridge,  the  chief  mate  of  a  Lon- 
don ship?  where  also  you  imprisoned  Mr.  Thomas  Gould,  John  Russell 
and   Benjamin  Sweetser,  and  many  others,  and  fined  them  fifty  pounds  a 

man And  did  you  not  nail  up  the  Baptist  meeting-house  doors,  aud 

fine  Mr.  John  Miles,  Mr.  James  Brown  aud  Mr.  Nicholas  Tanner?  &c. 

I  find  also  that  a  number  of  people  from  Kittery,  on  Pis- 
cataqua  River,  in  the  province  of  Maine,  were  baptized  this 
year,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  next,  sent  their  most  gifted 
brother  to  Boston  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  and  re- 

!Rc»ply  to  Cotton,  pp.  315—318. 


[1682.]  WILLIAM  SCREVEN  LICENSED.  401 

quest  ;a  in  consequence  of  which  the  church  there  wrote 
thus  on  January  11,  1682  :— 

To  all  whom  it  may  concern  : — These  are  to  certify,  that  our  beloved 
brother  "William  Screven  is  a  member  in  communion  with  us,  and  having 
had  trial  of  his  gifts  among  us,  and  finding  him  to  be  a  man  whom  God 
hath  qualified  and  furnished  with  the  gifts  of  his  Holy  Spirit  and  grace, 
enabling  him  to  open  and  apply  the  word  of  God,  which  through  the  bless- 
ing of  the   Lord  Jesus  may  be  useful  in   his  hand,  for  the  begetting  and 

lA  copy  of  this  letter  is  preserved  in  the  papers  of  Rev.  Silas  Hall,  of  Raynham, 
Massachusetts.  Though  not  faultless  in  rhetoric,  it  is  of  sufficient  interest  to  jus- 
tify its  publication,  even  aside  from  the  consideration  that  it  is  probably  the  oldest 
document  in  existence  relating  to  the  history  of  the  Baptists  in  the  State  of  Maine. 

"  Humphrey,  a  servant  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  church  which  is  at  Boston  ;  grace 
be  with  you,  and  peace,  from  God,  even  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Father  of  mercies  and  the  God  of  all  comforts,  who  comforteth  us  in  all  our  tribu- 
lations that  we  may  be  able  to  comfort  them  that  are  in  any  trouble,  as  we  are  com- 
forted of  God.  Most  dearly  beloved  brethren  and  friends,  as  1  am,  through  free 
grace,  a  member  of  the  same  body  and  joined  to  the  same  Head,  Christ  Jesus,  I 
thought  it  my  special  duty  to  inform  you  that  the  tender  mercy  of  God  in  and 
through  Jesus  Christ,  hath  shined  upon  us  by  giving  light  to  them  that  sit  in  dark- 
ness, and  to  guide  our  feet  in  the  way  of  peace ;  for  a  great  door,  and  effectual,  is 
opened  in  these  parts,  and  there  are  many  adversaries,  according  to  the  1st  of  Corin- 
thians, 16.  9.  Therefore,  dearly  beloved,  having  a  desire  to  the  service  of  Christ, 
which  is  perfect  freedom,  and  the  propagating  his  glorious  gospel  of  peace  and  sal- 
vation, and  eyeing  that  precious  promise  in  Daniel  the  12th,  3d,  '  They  that  turn 
many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  as  the  stars  forever;'  therefore  I  signify  unto  you, 
that  here  [are]  a  competent  number  of  well  established  people  whose  hearts  the 
Lord  hath  opened  insomuch  that  they  have  gladly  received  the  word  and  do  seri- 
ously profess  their  hearty  desire  to  the  following  of  Christ  and  to  partake  of  all  his 
holy  ordinances,  according  to  his  blessed  institution  and  divine  appointment;  there- 
fore I  present  my  ardent  desire  to  your  serious  consideration,  which  is,  if  the  Lord 
see  it  fit,  to  have  a  gospel  church  planted  here  in  this  place ;  and  in  order  hereunto, 
we  think  it  meet  that  our  beloved  brother,  "William  Screven,  who  is,  through  free 
grace,  gifted  and  endued,  with  the  spirit  of  veterans  to  preach  the  gospel;  who,  be- 
ing called  by  us,  who  are  visibly  joined  to  the  church.  When  our  beloved  brother 
is  ordained  according  to  the  sacred  rule  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  our  humble  petition  is 
to  God  that  he  will  be  pleased  to  carry  on  this  good  work  to  the  glory  of  his  holy 
name,  and  to  the  enlarging  of  the  kingdom  of  his  beloved  Son,  our  dear  Redeemer, 
who  will  add  daily  to  his  church  such  as  shall  be  saved;  and  we  desire  you  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  not  to  be  slack  in  this  good  work,  believing  verily  that  you 
will  not,  and  that  you  are  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  and  we  hum- 
bly crave  your  petitions  for  us  to  the  throne  of  grace,  and  we  commend  you  to  God 
and  the  good  word  of  his  grace,  which  is  able  to  build  you  up  and  to  give  you  an  in- 
heritance among  them  that  are  sanctified. 

"  Written  by  mine  own  hand,  this  3d  of  January,  1681. 

Humphrey  Churchwood." 

The  above  date  is  in  Old  Style ;  in  modern  reckoning  it  should  be  1682. — Ed. 
26 


402  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

building  up  of  souls  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  do  therefore  appoiut,  ap- 
prove aud  encourage  him,  to  exercise  his  gift  in  the  place  where  he  lives, 
or  elsewhere,  as  the  providence  of  God  may  cast  him  ;  and  so  the  Lord 
help  him  to  eye  his  glory  in  all  thiugs,  and  to  walk  humbly  in  the  fear  of 
his  name. 

Signed  by  us  in  behalf  of  the  rest. 

Isaac  Hull, 
John  Farnum. 

But  no  sooner  was  this  design  heard  of  in  their  town,  than 
Mr.  Woodbridge  the  minister,  and  Hucke  the  magistrate, 
began  to  bestir  themselves,  and  not  only  spread  the  slanders 
we  have  heard  so  much  of  against  the  Baptists  at  Boston, 
but  the  magistrate  repeatedly  summoned  those  people  before 
him  who  had  been  to  the  Baptist  meetings,  and  threatened 
them  with  a  fine  of  five  shillings  for  every  such  offence  for 
the  future.  On  January  23,  he  convented  Humphrey  Church- 
wood,  a  baptized  member  of  Boston  church,  before  him, 
where  was  the  said  minister,  who,  after  casting  those  old 
stories  upon  him,  said,  "  Behold  your  great  doctor,  Mr.  Miles 
of  Swanzey,  for  he  now  leaves  his  profession  and  is  come 
away,  and  will  not  teach  his  people  any  more,  because  he  is 
like  to  perish  for  want,  and  his  gathered  church  and  people 
will  not  help  him."  Churchwood  told  them  it  was  a  great 
untruth  ;  and  directly  wrote  to  Boston  upon  it,  which  letter 
is  now  before  me.1      Several  others  from  that  place  were 

Ut  Humphrey,  to  the  church  of  Christ  at  Boston  :  Grace  be  multiplied,  and  peace, 
from  God  our  Father,  and  from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Most  dearly  beloved  breth- 
ren and  Christian  friends,  I  thought  good  to  inform  you  that  since  our  beloved 
brother  Screven  went  from  us,  who,  I  trust  is  by  God's  mercy,  now  with  you,  by  his 
long  absence  from  us,  has  given  great  advantage  to  our  adversaries  to  triumph  and 
to  endeavor  to  beat  down  that  good  beginning  which  God,  by  his  poor  instrument 
hath  begun  amongst  us;  and  our  magistrate,  Mr.  Ilucke,  is  almost  every  day  sum- 
moning and  threatening  the  people  by  fines  and  other  penalties,  if  they  ever  come 
to  our  meetings  any  more,  five  shillings  for  every  such  offence.  And  yesterday, 
being  the  twenty-third  of  this  instant  January,  I  was  fetched  before  him  by  a  sum- 
mons, whither  being  eoine,  he  demanded  of  me  how  I  spent  my  time;  being  inform- 
ed, as  I  understood,  that  I  made  it  my  business  to  go  from  house  to  house  as  a  sedu- 
cer; but  after  I  gave  him  to  understand  that  I  was  joined  to  the  baptised  church  of 
Boston,  in  covenant  and  fellowship,  he  told  me  that  he  was  very  sorry  that  I  was 
deluded  and  misled;  and  our  minister,  Mr.  Woodbridge,  being  present,  he  began  to 
rail  upon  you,  and  especially  of  being  built  upon  excommunicate  persons,  naming 


[1682.]  WILLIAM  SCEEVEN  ARRESTED.  403 

baptized  soon  after  ;  but  to  hinder  their  proceedings,  their 
General  Court  took  the  matter  in  hand  as  follows,  viz.  : — 

William  Screven,  appearing  before  this  Court,  and  being  convicted  of 
the  contempt  of  his  Majesty's  authority,  and  refusing  to  submit  himself  to 
the  sentence  of  the  Court,  prohibiting  his  public  preaching,  and  upon  exam- 
ination before  the  Court,  declaring  his  resolution  still  to  persist  therein,  the 
Court  tendered  him  liberty  to  return  home  to  his  family,  in  case  he  would 
forbear  such  turbulent  practices  and  amend  for  the  future  ;  but  he  refusing, 
the  Court  sentenced  him  to  give  bond  for  his  good  behavior,  and  to  forbear 
such  contentious  behavior  for  the  future,  and  the  delinquent  to  stand  com- 
mitted until  the  judgment  of  this  Court  be  fulfilled. 

Vera  copia,  transcribed,  and  with  the  records  compared,  this  17th  of 
August,  1682. 

per  Edward  Rishworth,  Recorder. 

one  John  Farnum,  who,  he  said  was  a  grievous,  censorious  man;  and  would  not  let 
Mr,  Mader,  [Mather]  alone  till  he  had  cast  him  out  of  his  church.  Then  I  gave 
him  the  book  set  forth  by  Elder  John  Russell,  and  told  him,  if  he  would  impartially 
read  that  book,  he  would  not  speak  so  evilly  of  them.  But  Woodbridge  told  him 
that  he  would  affirm  that  there  were  many  palpable  untruths  in  that  book ;  but  I 
said  there  were  many  grievous,  false  scandals  and  false  insinuations  in  their  book 
entitled  The  Divine  Right  of  Infant  Baptism,  falsely  laid  upon  those  who  professed 
believers'  baptism,  which  had  been  fully  answered  by  a  letter  from  one  Kiffin,  of 
London,  and  confuted  by  all  sober  men,  and  taken  to  arise  from  a  spirit  of  inveter- 
acy and  animosity.  And  having  a  long  dispute  concerning  infant  baptism  and  ordi- 
nation of  ministers,  and  that  none  might  preach  except  called  by  men,  I  affirmed 
that  it  is  written  God's  people  shall  all  be  taught  of  him,  and  therefore,  as  every  man 
has  received  the  gift  of  God,  so  let  him  administer  the  same  as  good  stewards  of  the 
manifold  grace  of  God.  Then  Mr.  Hucke  answered,  saying,  Behold  your  great 
Doctor,  Mr.  Miles  of  Swanzey,  for  he  now  leaves  his  profession  and  is  come  away, 
and  will  not  teach  his  people  any  more,  because  he  is  like  to  perish  for  want,  and 
his  gathered  church  and  people  will  not  help  him.  .1  answered,  it  was  a  great  un- 
truth, but  he  said  he  could  bring  two  sufficient  men  to  testify  that  they  had  it  from 
his  own  mouth  at  Boston.  Dear  brethren,  I  cannot  harbor  any  such  thing,  but  it  is 
in  every  one's  mouth,  and  it  is  a  great  stumbling  block  to  many  tender  consciences ; 
therefore  I  request  you  not  to  fail,  as  soon  as  you  can  possibly,  if  this  letter  come 
to  your  hand  before  brother  Screven  cometh  from  thence,  that  you  would  send  an 
answer  to  this  thing,  for  the  satisfaction  of  our  friends  here,  and  I  hope  you  wil^ 
take  that  into  serious  consideration  which  I  sent  by  brother  Screven.  And  the 
good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush,  be  with  you  to  guide  you  in  all  your  under- 
takings. And  so,  humbly  craving  your  prayers  for  us,  and  that  you  will  dispatch 
brother  Screven  as  soon  as  he  cometh  back  from  Swanzey,  for  his  long  tarrying 
maketh  us  conclude  that  he  is  gone  thither.  All  our  friends  here  are  well,  blessed 
be  God !  and  we  hope  the  same  by  you,  which  is  the  tenor  of  our  prayers. 

"Written  by  mine  own  hand  this  25th  day  of  January,  1681  [2]. 

Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  papers. 

The  reader  will  observe,  in  this  letter,  a  discrepancy  of  one  day  in  dates.     It  may 
have  been  commenced  on  the  24th  and  finished  on  the  25th. — Ed. 


404  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

To  this  is  added  a  copy  of  the  same  date  by  the  same 
hand,  of  an  act  of  their  Executive  Court,  which  says  : — 

This  Court  having  considered  the  offensive  speeches  of  William  Screven, 
viz.,  his  rash  and  inconsiderate  words  tending  to  blasphemy,  do  adjudge  the 
delinquent,  for  his  offence,  to  pay  ten  pounds  into  the  treasury  of  the  couuty 
or  province.  And  further,  the  Court  doth  forbid  and  discharge  the  said 
Screven,  under  any  pretence,  to  keep  any  private  exercise  at  his  own  house 
or  elsewhere  upon  the  Lord's  days,  either  in  Kittery  or  any  other  place 
within  the  limits  of  this  province,  and  is  for  the  future  enjoined  to  observe 
the  public  worship  of  God  in  our  public  assemblies  upon  the  Lord's  days, 
according  to  the  laws  here  established  in  this  province,  upon  such  peualties 
as  the  law  requires  upon  such  neglect  of  the  premises. 

But  he  was  so  far  from  yielding  to  such  sentences,  that  on 
September  13,  he  with  the  rest  sent  a  request  to  Boston  that 
Elder  Hull  and  others  might  visit  and  form  them  into  a 
church,1    which    was     granted ;    so    that   a   covenant   was 

u<To  Thomas  Skinner,  Boston,  for  the  church  :  Dearly  beloved  brethren  in 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  saints.  I  and  my  wife  salute  you  with  our  Christian 
love  in  our  Lord  Jesus,  hoping  through  grace  these  few  lines  will  find  you  in  health 
of  body  and  mind.  Blessed  be  God  for  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  he  is  pleased  to  ac- 
count his  saints  meet  to  be  partakers  of  the  blessed  rest  provided  for  them  in  his 
mansion-house  eternally  in  the  heavens.  That  will  be  a  happy  day  when  all  the 
saints  shall  join  together  in  sounding  of  his  praise.  The  good  Lord  enable  us  to 
prepare  for  that  blessed  day.  To  that  end,  brethren,  let  us  pray,  e^ery  one  him- 
self, for  himself,  and  for  one  another,  that  God  would  please  to  search  our  hearts 
and  reins,  so  as  that  we  may  walk  with  God  here,  and  hereafter  dwell  with  him  in 
glory. 

"  I  had  thought  to  have  been  with  you  last  church-meeting,  but  my  wife's  eondi- 
dition  was  such  I  could  not  come,  and  this  time  by  providence,  I  have  taken  some 
hurt,  so  that  I  cannot  ride  so  far  as  yet.  I  hope  to  be  with  you  next  month,  if  the 
Lord  will.  And  we  have  sent  you  our  apprehensions  about  our  present  Btate.  I 
hope  we  are  conscientious  in  what  we  have  said  to  you.  I  believe  you  will  not 
judge  otherwise.  I  am  persuaded  it  will  do  much  for  the  honor  of  God  to  have  it 
done  here.  Besides,  my  mother-in-law  hath  desired  to  follow  Christ  in  that  ordi- 
nance. We  all  conceive  it  will  be  more  honorable  and  expedient  that  it  be  done  by 
the  Elder  Hull,  that  is  so  truly  praised  here.  I  pray  you  to  consider  these  things. 
Both  may  be  done  when  the  messengers  come  up  to  us.  My  humble  request  to  you 
is,  that  you  will  grant  us  what  we  have  conscientiously  treated  you  for.  I  conceive 
we  are  all  agreed  to  leave  our  burdens,  and  you  to  agree  on  the  time.     No  more  at 

present;  but  rest,  your  unworthy  brother  in  gospel  relation. 

William  Screvln. 

"The  I8tib  of  the  7th  month,  [September,  O.  S.]  1682. 

.     To  Brother  Tho.  Skinner,  Will.  Squire,  Elias  Callender." 

Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  Papers.— Ed. 


[1682.]      BAPTIST  CHURCHES  AT   KITTERY  AND  NEWBURY.  405 

solemnly  signed  on  September  25,  1682,  by  William  Screven, 
Elder,  Humphrey  Church  wood,  Deacon,  Robert  Williams, 
John  Morgandy,  Richard  Cutt,  Timothy  Davis,  Leonard 
Drown,  William  Adams,  Humphrey  Azell,  and  George  Lit- 
ten,  and  a  number  of  sisters.1  A  Baptist  church  was  also 
formed  this  year  from  that  of  Boston,  at  Newbury,  by  Wil- 
liam and  John  Sayer,  Benjamin  Morse,  Edward  Woodman 
and  others,2  to  whom  I  find  Elder  Hull  and  Elder  Emblen 
writing  as  a  sister  church ,  on  March  25,  1689  ;  though  how 
much  longer  they  continued  a  distinct  church  I  do  not  find. 
Mr.  Philip  Edes,  a  member  of  the  first  Baptist  church  in 
Newport,  died  this  year  on  March  16,  of  whom  Mr.  Samuel 
Hubbard  says  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Leete,  "  This  friend  of 
yours  and  mine,  one  in  office  in  Oliver's  house,  was  for  lib- 
erty of  conscience  ;  a  merchant,  a  precious  man,  of  a  holy 
life  and  conversation,  beloved  of  all  sorts  of  men,  his  death 
much  bewailed  by  all."  Mr.  Thomas  Olney,  senior,  also  died 
this  year.  He  was  next  to  Mr.  Williams  in  the  pastoral 
office  at  Providence,  and  continued  so  to  his  death,  over  that 
part  of  the  church  who  were  called  Five  Principle  Baptists, 
in  distinction  from  those  who  parted  from  their  brethren 
about  the  year  1653,  under  the  leading  of  Elder  Wickenden, 
holding  to  the  laying  on  of  hands  upon  every  church  member. 
The  greatest  fault  that  I  find  Mr.  Olney  charged  with  is,  that 
he  was  for  extending  the  first  deed  of  Providence  up  to  the 

JThis  church  had  but  a  brief  existence.  "As  the  result  of  a  long  cherished  and 
well  organized  religious  intolerance,  venting  itself  in  vehement  and  impassioned 
persecution,  these  humble  Christians  became  disheartened  and  overcome.  In  less 
than  one  year  from  its  recognition,  the  church  was  dissolved,  and  the  members  scat- 
tered like  sheep  upon  the  mountains."  Millet's  Maine  Baptists,  p.  27;  Benedict, 
Vol.  I,  p.  309.— Ed. 

2il  1682.  Early  this  year,  a  small  Baptist  church  was  formed  in  Newbury,  as  ap- 
pears from  the  following  extract  from  the  records  of  the  First  Baptist  church  in  Bos- 
ton : — '  February  6th,  1681,  [O.  S.]  Agreed,  upon  a  church  meeting,  that  we,  the 
church  at  Boston,  have  assented  unto  the  settling  of  the  church  at  Newbury.'  The 
persons  who  formed  this  church  were  probably  George  Little  and  Philip  Squire,  who 
united  with  the  Baptist  church  in  Boston  in  1676,  Nathaniel  Cheney,  William  Sayer 
and  wife,  Mr.  Edward  Woodman  and  wife,  John  Sayer  and  Abel  Merrill,  all  of  whom 
became  members  in  1681."     History  of  Newbury,  p.  135. — Ed. 


406  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

head  of  the  two  great  rivers  it  lay  between,  or  at  least  as  far 
as  their  charter  reached,  from  the  words  Without  limits,  in 
page  72.  In  this  he  was  opposed  by  our  elders,  Wicken- 
den  and  Dexter,  the  latter  of  whom  informs  us  that  Mr.  Wil- 
liams said,  the  only  intent  of  the  expression  was  to  prevent 
the  Indians  hurting  their  cattle  if  they  wandered  far  into 
the  woods.  Their  writings  on  both  sides  are  yet  extant  in 
their  town  clerk's  office.  They  tell  me  at  Swanzey  that  El- 
der Miles  permitted  Mr.  Brown's  wife,  who  was  not  a  Bap- 
tist, to  commune  with  their  church,  till  by  Elder  Olney's  in- 
fluence she  was  dismissed  to  Mr.  Angier's  church  in  Reho- 
both.  It  is  very  evident  that  Mr.  01ney  was  a  capable  and 
very  useful  man,  both  in  church  and  state  for  forty-four 
years  after  he  left  the  Massachusetts  ;  as  his  son  also  was 
for  many  years  ;  and  his  posterity  are  respectable  in  that 
town  and  State  to  this  day.  Mr.  Holmes,  of  whom  much  has 
been  said,  who  wrote  the  account  of  himself  in  1675,  that 
is  given  in  pages  173 — 176,  206 — 209,  and  succeeded  Mr. 
Clarke  in  the  pastoral  office  at  Newport,  died  there,  October 
15,  1682,  aged  seventy-six.  He  has  a  large  posterity  now 
remaining  in  New  England  and  New  Jersey. 

The  learned  and  pious  Mr.  Miles  having  returned  to  his 
flock  in  Swanzey,  fell  asleep  in  Jesus,  on  February  3,  1683; 
and  his  memory  is  still  precious  among  us.  We  are  told 
that  being  once  brought  before  the  magistrates  he  requested 
a  Bible,  and  upon  obtaining  it,  he  turned  to  those  words, 
"Ye  should  say,  Why  persecute  we  him,  seeing  the  root  of 
the  matter  is  found  in  me;"  Job  19.  28;  which  having  read, 
he  sat  down;  and  the  word  had  a  good  effect  upon  their 
minds,  and  moved  them  to  treat  him  with  moderation  if  not 
kindness.  His  son  went  back  to  England,  and  his  grand- 
son, Mr.  Samuel  Miles,  was  an  Episcopal  minister  at  Boston 
in  1724.  Though  Mr.  Willard,  and  the  Magnalia  from  him, 
accused  the  Baptists  of  Boston,  of  separating  because  they 
wanted  to  be  teachers,1  yet  that  was  so  far  from  truth,  that 

'Magnalia,  Vol.  II,  p.  4G0.— Ed. 


[1682.]  LETTER  TO  LONDON,  AND  REPLY.  407 

on  June  27,  1681,  they  wrote  to  London  for  a  minister, 
giving  this  as  one  reason  for  it,  that,  "  our  minister  is  very 
aged  and  feeble,  and  often  incapable  of  his  ministerial 
work;"  and  as  another  motive  they  say,  "We  conceive 
there  is  a  prospect  of  good  encouragement  for  an  able  man 
to  come  over,  in  that  there  seems  to  be  an  apparent  and 
general  apostacy  among  the  churches  who  have  professed 
themselves  Congregational  in  this  land ;  whereby  many 
have  their  eyes  opened,  by  seeing  the  declension  and  con- 
fusion that  is  among  them."  A  kind  answer  hereto  was  re- 
turned by  eleven  Baptist  ministers,  which  is  before  me.2 

2"  London,  the  13th  of  the  8th  [?]  month,  1681. 

"  Beloved  Brethren — For  whom  we  pray  that  the  Eather  of  mercies  may  fill  you 
with  the  knowledge  of  his  will,  in  all  wisdom  and  spiritual  understanding  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  you  may  be  to  the  praise,  honor  and  glory  of 
him  that  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvelous  light.  We  have  re- 
ceived yours  to  us,  wherein  you  acquaint  us  with  the  good  hand  of  Providence  to- 
wards you  in  having  your  liberty  again  to  meet  in  your  public  place,  and  the  hopes 
you  have  of  a  considerable  increase ;  also  the  sense  you  have  of  the  present  want 
of  a  faithful,  able  man  to  go  in  and  out  before  you  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  the 
Lord  having  deprived  you  of  him  that  was  formerly  very  useful  to  you  therein,  who 
is  now  fallen  asleep  in  the  Lord.  We  do  assure  you  that  there  is  nothing  wanting, 
nor  shall  be,  to  help  you  herein,  but  at  present  cannot  think  of  any,  the  Lord  know- 
ing the  laborers  are  few  amongst  us,  especially  such  as  have  the  courage  whereby 
they  may  have  the  more  acceptance  with  you,  and  be  able  to  maintain  the  truth 
against  gainsay ers.  But  you  may  be  assured  of  the  utmost  we  can  do  herein,  and 
we  trust  and  pray  that  the  Lord  will  be  pleased  to  spirit  such  amongst  yourselves  as 
may  be  a  means  to  build  you  up  in  the  ways  of  holiness.  We  have  had  experience 
that  when  such  help  hath  been  wanting  amongst  us  as  you  desire,  the  Lord  hath 
made  it  up  with  his  special  presence,  and  the  assistance  he  hath  given  to  poor,  de- 
spised, unlearned  men  hath  been  so  blessed  that  greater  addition  hath  been  to  the 
churches  than  now ;  and  we  hope  what  may  be  wanting  in  the  gifts  you  wait  for,  the 
Lord  will  help  you  to  make  up  by  that  humble  and  gracious  frame  of  spirit,  shining 
in  your  love  to  Christ  and  to  each  other,  as  may  put  to  silence  those  that  may  take 
an  occasion  to  reproach  you  for  want  of  having  those  abilities  amongst  you  as  they 
have  amongst  them.  He  that  hath  the  abundance  of  the  Spirit,  is  able  to  make  sup- 
ply to  all  your  wants,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory  by  Jesus  Christ. 

"And  since  the  Lord  hath  abated  the  heats  of  some  men's  spirits  amongst  you,  and 
you  have  now  liberty  to  move  more  freer  than  formerly,  you  have  need  be  very 
watchful  over  your  own  hearts  and  the  great  enemy  of  our  peace,  Satan,  lest  any 
occasion  be  given  for  any  to  stumble,  that  are  now  making  inquiry  after  the  farther 
manifestations  of  the  mind  and  will  of  God  amongst  you ;  and  we  are  persuaded 
that,  as  he  hath  opened  a  door  amongst  you,  so  he  will  furnish  you  with  abilities  and 
strength  from  himself,  for  your  farther  edification  and  comfort.  We  kindly  thank 
you  that  you  have  the  remembrance  of  us  to  God,  in  your  prayers,  and  we  desire 


408  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

And  now,  as  some  singular  and  curious  things  are  gener- 
ally expected  from  a  new  country,  I  shall  relate  the  closing 
part  of  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  I  have  met  with  in 
modern  history  ;  the  sum  whereof  is  this.  A  large  number 
of  people  fled  out  of  the  old  world  into  this  wilderness  for 
religious  liberty ;  but  had  not  been  here  long  before  some 
put  in  high  claims  for  power,  under  the  name  of  orthodoxy  ; 
to  whom  others  made  fierce  opposition  professedly  from  the 
light  within  ;  and  their  clashings  were  so  great  that  several 
lives  were  lost  in  the  fray.  This  made  a  terrible  noise  on 
the  other  side  of  the  water.  But  as  self-defence  is  a  natural 
principle,  each  party  wrote  volume  after  volume  to  clear 
themselves  from  blame;  and  they  both  conspired  to  cast  a 
great  part  of  it  upon  one  singular  man,  whom  they  called  a 
weathercock  and  a  windmill.1     Now  let  the  curious  find  out 

the  continuance  thereof,  not  knowing  what,  nor  how  soon,  troubles  and  sorrows  may 
befall  us.  The  cloud  has  been  black  a  great  while  over  us,  and  it  is  marvelous  in 
our  eyes  that  our  peace  hath  been  and  is  lengthened  out  as  it  is ;  but  surely  a  very 
great  storm  is  a-coming,  and  who  shall  be  able  to  stand  in  that  day,  the  Lord  only 
knoweth.  That  indeed  is  our  comfort,  that  we  are  under  the  promise  of  a  faithful 
God,  that  as  the  day  is,  so  our  strength  shall  be.  We  are  very  glad  to  have  some 
lines  from  you,  and  desire  it  may  be  continued  as  often  as  you  have  any  opportunity  ; 
and  we  trust  we  shall  not  be  wanting  to  return  answers  to  them.  With  our  prayers 
to  the  Lord  to  keep  you  faithful  to  the  end,  and  our  real  love  to  you  all,  remain, 

Wm.  Kiffen,  William  Dix, 

Han.  K*ollys,  Robert  Scelling, 

Daniel  Dike,  Tobias  Russell, 

Wm.  Collins,  Maikke  King, 

Neh.  Coxe,  Jno.  Skiner." 

Edw.  Williams, 
The  original  of  this  letter,  with  the  autograph  signatures,  is  preserved  among  the 
Backus  papers  in  the  library  of  the  Backus  Historical  Society. — Ed. 

'"Here  is  a  lying,  scandalous  book  of  Roger  Williams  of  Providence I  have 

known  him  about  fifty  years,  a  mere  weathercock,  constant  only  in  inconstancy 

They  ought  to  have  feared  God  and  the  king,  that  is  to  punish  evil  doers,  and  there- 
fore not  to  meddle  to  their  hurt  with  him  that  is  given  to  change."  Coddington's 
Letter.     See  pp.  858,  .'551. 

'•In  the  year  1664,  a  certain  windmill  in  the  Low  Countries,  whirling  round  with 
extraordinary  violence,  by  reason  of  a  violent  storm  then  blowing;  the  stone,  at 
length,  by  its  rapid  motion,  became  so  intensely  hot  as  to  fire  the  mill,  from  whence 
the  flames,  being  dispersed  by  the  high  winds,  did  set  a  whole  town  on  fire.  'But  I 
can  tell  my  reader,  that  about  twenty  years  before  this,  there  was  a  whole  country 
in  America  like  to  be  set  on  fire  by  the  rapid  motion  of  a  windmill  in  the  head  of 
one  particular  man.  Know  then  that  about  the  year  1G30,  arrived  here,  one  Mr. 
Hoger  Williams,"  &C<     Magnalia,  Vol.  II,  p.  430. — Ed. 


[1683.1        CHARACTER  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS  VINDICATED.  409 

if  they  can,  first,  how  men  of  university  learning,  or  of 
divine  inspiration,  came  to  write  great  volumes  against  a 
windmill  and  a  weathercock  ?  secondly,  how  such  a  strange 
creature  came  to  be  an  overmatch  for  them  all,  and  to  carry 
his  point  against  the  arts  of  priestcraft,  the  intrigues  of 
court,  the  nights  of  enthusiasm  and  the  power  of  factions, 
so  as  after  he  had  pulled  down  ruin  upon  himself  and  his 
friends,  yet  to  be  able,  in  the  midst  of  heathen  savages,  to 
erect  the  best  form  of  civil  government  that  the  world  had 
seen  in  sixteen  hundred  years  1  thirdly,  how  he  and  his 
ruined  friends  came  to  lie  under  those  reproaches  for  a  hun- 
dred years,  and  yet  that  their  plan  should  then  be  adopted 
by  thirteen  colonies,  to  whom  these  despised  people  could 
afford  senators  of  principal  note,  as  well  as  commanders  by 
sea  and  land?  The  excellency  of  this  scene  above  those 
which  many  are  bewitched  with,  consists  in  its  being  found- 
ed upon  facts  and  not  fictions ;  being  not  the  creature  of 
distempered  brains,  but  of  an  unerring  Providence. 

According  to  Mr.  Williams's  own  testimony,  his  soul  was 
renewed  by  divine  grace  when  he  was  not  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  years  old.1  And  the  mystery  of  his  being  rigidly  set 
in  his  way,  and  yet  "  given  to  change,"  is  to  be  explained 
thus.  Neither  frowns  nor  flatteries  could  move  him  to  part 
with  what  he  judged  to  be  truth,  or  to  assent  to  anything 
contrary  thereto.  As  he  scrupled  the  exactness  of  the  cal- 
endar then  in  use,  so  he  discovered  it  in  all  his  dates.  Even 
when  dedicating  his  Quaker  dispute  to  the  king,  he  dated 
it  March  10,  1672,  3,  (ut  vulgo.)  On  the  other  hand  he  was 
ever  ready  to  change,  when  he  could  obtain  light  for  it  from 
any  quarter.  While  he  ministered  to  his  brethren  at  Ply- 
mouth, he  objected  against  their  custom  of  giving  their 
neighbors  the  title  of  Goodman ,  if  they  were  not  judged  to 
be  godly  persons.  When  Governor  Winthrop  paid  them  a 
visit  in  1632,2  and  his  advice  was  asked  upon  it,  he  showed 
them  that  they  ought  to  distinguish  betwixt  theological  and 

'See  p.  118.  *See  p.  43. 


410  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

moral  goodness,  and  observed  that  when  trials  by  jury  were 
first  introduced  in  England,  after  the  names  of  fit  persons 
for  the  purpose  were  called  over,  the  crier  called  them  to 
attend,  Good  men  and  true,  from  whence  proceeded  the  cus- 
tom then  in  question  ;  and  he  thought  it  a  pity  to  make  a 
stir  about  a  custom  so  innocently  introduced.1  Mr.  Wil- 
liams readily  embraced  this  advice,  and  made  a  very  good 
use  of  it  afterward,  in  exposing  the  mischiefs  that  arose 
from  a  confounding  of  those  two  sorts  of  goodness  together, 
as  Mr.  Cotton  and  many  others  had  done.  And  because  he 
was  earnestly  looking  for  a  better  church  establishment  than 
he  had  then  seen,  they  imposed  the  name  of  Seeker  upon 
him.  The  great  Mr.  Baxter  calls  him  The  father  of  the 
Seekers  in  London.2  When  he  went  there  in  1643,  and 
published  his  testimony  against  the  Bloody  Tenet,  Mr.  Cot- 
ton, among  other  reflections,  said,  "  Thus  men  that  have  time 
and  leisure  at  will,  will  set  up  images  of  clouts,  and  then 
shoot  at  them."3  In  answer  to  which  Mr.  Williams  appealed 
to  the  people  of  Plymouth,  Salem  and  Providence,  that  he 
had  not  led  such  a  life  in  this  country ;  and  as  to  the  other, 
he  says  : — 

I  can  tell  that  when  these  discussions  were  prepared  for  the  public  in 
London,  his  time  was  eaten  up  in  attendance  upon  the  service  of  the  par- 
liament and  city  for  the  supply  of  the  poor  of  the  city  with  wood,  during 
the  stop  of  coal  from  Newcastle,  and  the  mutinies  of  the  poor  for  fireing. 
• . .  .These  meditations  were  fitted  for  public  view  in  change  of  rooms  and 
corners,  yea,  ....  in  a  variety  of  strange  houses,  sometimes  in  the  fields 
in  the  midst  of  travel. 

For  this  service,  through  the  hurry  of  the  times,  and  the 
necessity  of  his  departure,  he  lost  his  recompence  to  this 
day.     He  continues  : — 

Well,  notwithstanding  Master  Cotton's  bitter  censure,  some  persons  of 
no  contemptible  note  nor  intelligence,  have  by  letters  from  England,  in- 
formed the  discusser,  that  by  these  "  images  of  clouts"  it  hath  pleased 
God  to  stop  no  small  leaks   of  persecution,   that  lately   began    to   flow   in 

•Magnalia,  B.  2,  p.  14,  [Vol.  I,  p.  117.]  'Crosby,  Vol.  I,  p.  118. 

'Tenet  washed,  p.  31. 


L1683.J  WILLIAMS'S  LETTER  TO  HUBBARD.  411 

upon  dissenting  consciences,  and  among  others,  to  Master  Cotton's  own, 
and  to  the  peace  and  quietness  of  the  Independents,  which  they  have  so 
long,  and  so  wonderfully  enjoyed.1 

As  to  his  later  services,  he  was  so  far  from  being  meanly 
hired,  as  they  said,  for  a  piece  of  bread,2  to  write  against 
the  Quakers,  that  after  he  had  done  it,  he  wrote  thus  to 
Newport : — 

My  Dear  Friend,  Samuel  Hubbard  :  To  yourself  and  aged  compan- 
ion, my  loving  respects  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  ought  to  be  our  hope  of 
[and]  glory,  begun  in  this  life  and  enjoyed  to  all  eternity.  I  have  herein 
returned  your  little,  yet  great,  remembrance  of  the  hand  of  the  Lord  to 
yourself  and  your  sou  late  departed.  I  praise  the  Lord  for  your  humble 
kissing  of  the  holy  rod,  and  acknowledging  his  just  and  righteous,  together 
with  his  gracious  and  merciful,  dispensation  to  you.  I  rejoice  also  to  read 
your  heavenly  desires  and  endeavors,  that  your  trials  may  be  gain  to  your 
own  souls,  and  the  souls  of  the  youth  of  the  place,  and  all  of  us.  You 
are  not  unwilling,  I  judge,  that  I  deal  plainly  and  friendly  with  you. 
....  After  all  that  I  have  seen  and  read  and  compared  about  the  seventh 
day  (and  I  have  earnestly  and  carefully  read  and  weighed  all  I  could 
come  at  in  God's  holy  presence,)  I  cannot  be  removed  from  Calvin's 
mind,  and  indeed  Paul's  mind,  Col.  2,  that  all  those  sabbaths  of  seven 
days  were  figures,  types  and  shadows,  and  forerunners  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  that  the  change  is  made  from  the  remembrance  of  the  first  creation, 
and  that  (figurative)  rest  on  the  seventh  day,  to  the  remembrance  of  the 
second  creation  on  the  first,  on  which  our  Lord  arose  conqueror  from  the 
dead.  Accordingly  I  have  read  many,  but  see  no  satisfying  answer  to 
those  three  Scriptures  chiefly,  Acts  20,  I  Corinthians  16,  Revelation  1,  in 
conscience  to  which  I  make  some  poor  conscience  to  God  as  to  the  rest 
day As  for  thoughts  for  England,  I  humbly  hope  the  Lord  hath  hew- 
ed [shewed]  me  to  write  a  large  narrative  of  all  those  four  days  agitation 
between  the  Quakers  and  myself ;  if  it  please  God  I  cannot  get  it  printed 

in  New  England,  I  [yet]  have  great  thoughts  and  purposes  for  Old 

Mine  age,  lameness,  and  many  other  weaknesses,  and  the  dreadful  hand  of 
God  at  sea,  calls  for  deep  consideration.  What  God  may  please  to  bring 
forth  in  the  spring  his  holy  wisdom  knows.  If  he  please  to  bring  to  an 
absolute  purpose  I  will  send  you  word,  and  my  dear  friend  Obediah  Holmes, 
who  sent  me  a  message  to  the  same  purpose.  At  present  I  pray  salute 
respectively  Mr.  John  Clarke  and  his  brothers,  Mr.  Tory,  Mr.  Edes, 
Edward  Smith,  William  Hiscox,   Stephen  Mumford  and   other   friends, 

'Keply  to  Cotton,  p.  38.     See  pp.  130,  US,  147,  157,  &c. 
*See  p.  353.— Ed. 


-412  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

whose  preservation,  [and]  of  the  Island,  and  this  country,  I  humbly  beg 
of  the  Father  of  mercies,  in  whom  I  am  yours,  unworthy. 

K.  W. 

If  the  reader  reviews  Dr.  Chamberlain's  first  letter.1  and  is 
informed  that  he  with  the  brethren  he  wrote  to,  took  the 
whole  of  the  ten  commandments  to  be  moral  and  immutable, 
and  held  that  it  was  the  little  horn  that  changed  the  time 
from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  ;  but  that  Mr.  Olney  and 
his  church  observed  to  their  brethren,  that  Paul  speaks  of  a 
glory  which  was  done  away,  that  was  written  and  engraven 
in  stones  ;  II  Corinthians- 3.  7;  compared  with  this  letter, 
he  will  then  have  a  plain  idea  of  the  nature  of  that  contro- 
versy on  both  sides,  as  it  was  managed  in  that  day.  And, 
to  go  on,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  that  some  persons  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  colony  had  such  a  conceit  of  liberty,  as 
that  officers  should  manage  the  government  without  any 
reward  from  them  ;  by  which  means  Mr.  Clarke  received 
but  part  of  his  pay  for  procuring  their  charter  as  long  as  he 
lived  ;  and  this  occasioned  a  remonstrance  from  his  execu- 
tors to  the  Assembly  upon  it  soon  after  his  death.  A  clause 
from  Mr.  Williams  upon  it.  I  have  already  recited  ;2  to  which 
I  now  add  the  following.  In  August,  1678,  he  was  appoint- 
ed to  assist  Mr.  Daniel  Abbot  in  setting  their  town  records 
in  order,  the  latter  being  then  chosen  their  clerk.  Three  years 
after,  Mr.  Williams  wrote  to  him  thus : — 

My  Good  Friend  :  Loving  remembrance  to  you.  It  hath  pleased  the 
Most  High  and  Only  Wise,  to  stir  up  your  spirit  to  be  one  of  the  chiefest 
stakes  in  our  poor  hedge.  I  therefore,  not  being  well  able  to  come  to  you, 
present  you  with  a  few  thoughts  about  the  great  stumbling  block,  to  them 
thai  arc  willing  to  stumble  and  trouble  themselves, — our  rates.  James 
MatisOD  had  one  copy  of  me,  and  Thomas  Arnold  another.  This  I  send 
to  yourself  and  the  town  (for  it  may  be  I  shall  not  be  able  to  be  at  meet- 
ing.) I  am  grieved  lhat  you  do  so  much  service  lor  so  bad  recompence  ; 
but  I  am  persuaded  you  shall  find  cause  to  say,  The  Most  High  God  of 
recompence,  who  was  Abraham's  great  reward,  hath  paid  me. 

'Sec  pages  378,  379.  *See  page  371. 


[1683.]        WILLIAMS'S  CONSIDERATIONS  TOUCHING  RATES.  413 

Considerations  presented,  touching  rates. 

1.  Government  and  order  in  families,  towns,  &c,  is  the  ordinance  of  the 
Most  High,  Romans  13,  for  the  peace  and  good  of  mankind.  2.  Six  things 
are  written  in  the  hearts  of  all  mankind,  yea,  even  in  Pagans.  1st.  That 
there  is  a  Deity  ;  2d.  That  some  actions  are  naught ;  3d.  That  the  Deity 
will  punish  ;  4th.  That  there  is  another  life  ;  5th.  That  marriage  is  honor- 
able ;  6th.  That  mankind  cannot  keep  together  without  some  government. 
3.  There  is  no  Englishman  in  his  Majesty's  dominions,  or  elsewhere,  who 
is  not  forced  to  submit  to  government.  4.  There  is  not  a  man  in  the  world 
except  robbers,  pirates  and  rebels,  but  doth  submit  to  government.  5. 
Even  robbers,  pirates  and  rebels  themselves,  cannot  hold  together  but  by 
some  law  among  themselves,  and  government.  6.  One  of  these  two  great 
laws  in  the  world,  must  prevail ;  either  that  of  judges  and  justices  of  peaec 
in  courts  of  peace,  or  the  law  of  arms,  the  sword  and  blood.  7.  If  it 
comes  from  the  courts  of  trials  in  peace,  to  the  trial  of  the  sword  and 
blood,  the  conquered  is  forced  to  seek  law  and  government.  8.  Till  mat- 
ters come  to  a  settled  government  no  man  is  ordinarily  sure  of  his  house, 
goods,  lands,  cattle,  wife,  children,  or  life.  9.  Hence  is  that  ancient  max- 
im, It  is  better  to  live  under  a  tyrant  in  peace,  than  under  the  sword,  or 
where  every  man  is  a  tyrant.  10.  His  Majesty  sends  governors  -to  Bar- 
bados, Virginia,  &c,  but  to  us  he  shows  greater  favor  in  our  charter,  to 
choose  whom  we  please.  11.  No  charters  are  obtained  without  great  suit, 
favor  or  charges.  Our  first  cost  an  hundred  pounds,  (though  I  never 
received  it  all,)  our  second  about  a  thousand,  Connecticut  about  six  thou- 
sand, &c.  12.  No  government  is  maintained  without  tribute,  customs, 
rates,  taxes,  &c.  13.  Our  charter  excels  all  in  New  England,  or  in  the 
world,  as  to  the  souls  of  men.  14.  It  pleaseth  God,  Romans  13,  to  com- 
mand tribute,  custom  and  consequently  rates,  [&c.,]  not  only  for  fear,  but 
for  conscience  sake.  15.  Our  rates  are  the  least  by  far  of  any  colony  in 
New  England.  16.  There  is  no  man  that  hath  a  vote  in  town  or  colony, 
but  he  hath  a  hand  in  making  the  rates  by  himself  or  his  deputies.  1  7. 
In  our  colony  the  General  Assembly,  Governors,  magistrates,  deputies, 
towns,  town  clerks,  raters,  constables,  &c,  have  done  their  duties  ;  the  fail- 
ing lies  upon  particular  persons.  18.  It  is  but  folly  to  resist,  (one  or 
more,  and  if  one  why  not  more?)  God  hath  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  the 
Governor,  magistrates  and  officers,  driven  to  it  by  necessity,  to  be  unani- 
mously resolved  to  see  the  matter  finished  ;  and  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man 
to  maintain,  encourage  and  strengthen  the  hand  of  authority.  19.  Black 
clouds  (some  years)  have  hung  over  Old  and  New  England  heads.  God 
hath  been  wonderfully  patient  and  long  suffering  to  us  ;  but  who  sees  not 
changes  and  calamities  hanging  over  us?  20.  All  men  fear  that  this 
blazing  herald  from  heaven  denounceth  from  the   Most  High,  wars,  pesti- 


414  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

lence,  famines  ;  is  it  not  then  our  wisdom  to   make  and  keep   peace    with 
God  and  man? 

Your  old,  unworthy  servant, 

Roger  Williams.1 
Providence,  loth  January,  1680,1  (so  called.) 

The  last  act  that  I  have  found  upon  record,  performed  by 
this  eminent  peacemaker,  was  on  January  16,  1683,  when 
he,  with  Mr.  Carpenter,  and  the  heirs  or  assigns  of  the 
other  eleven  original  proprietors,  signed  a  full  settlement  of 
the  long  continued  controversy  about  Pawtuxet  lands.  On 
the  10th  of  May  following,  Mr.  John  Thornton  wrote  to 
Mr.  Hubbard  and  said  : — 

Dear  brother,  you  gave  me  an  account  of  the  death  of  divers  of  our 
ancient  friends  ;  since  that  time  the  Lord  hath  arrested  by  death  our 
ancient  and  approved  friend  Mr.  Roger  Williams,  with  divers  others 
here.  The  good  Lord  grant  that  we  may  be  stirred  up,  with  the  wise  vir- 
gins, to  be  trimming  our  lamps,  and  getting  them  full  of  the  spiritual  oil, 
and  standing  with  wise  Habakkuk  upon  our  watch  towers  till  our  appoint- 
ed change. 

Thus  lived  and  thus  died  the  first  Baptist  minister  in  New 
England,  and  the  first  founder  and  supporter  of  any  truly 
free  civil  government  upon  earth,  since  the  rise  of  anti- 
christ ;  "  and  he  was  buried  with  all  the  solemnity  the  col- 
ony was  able  to  show."2     This  was  in  the  eighty-fourth  year 

^hese  excellent  observations  are  still  extant  in  his  own  hand  writing.  The 
last  article  refers  to  a  remarkable  blazing  star  that  appeared  in  those  times. — B. 

Professor  Howell,  who  copied  the  above  document  for  Backus,  appended  to  the 
last  sentence  the  following  note:  "Alluding  to  the  very  remarkable  appearance  of 
the  comet  of  IG.xO,  the  tail  of  which  was  said  to  be  eigbty-two  millions  of  miles 
long,  its  period  five  bundred  and  seventy-five  years,  and  that  it  came  so  near  the  sun 
as  to  be  heated  two  thousand  times  hotter  than  red  hot  iron."  Many  testimonies 
remain  of  the  terror  with  which  this  comet  was  then  regarded.  Professor  Howell 
had  doubtless  seen  it  at  its  reappearance  in  1758,  after  a  period  of  a  little  more  than 
seventy-live  years,  instead  of  five  hundred  and  seventy-five:  and  its  appearance  in 
1835,  is  still  well  remembered.  It  is  the  same  comet  which,  in  1450,  evoked  the 
famous  order  of  Tope  Calixtus  III,  that  all  church  bells  should  be  rung  each  noon, 
Ml  extra  Ate  Maria  be  repeated  and  the  prayer  added,  "Lord,  save  us  from  the 
devil,  the  Turk,  and  the  comet!" — the  same  which,  according  to  the  speculations  of 
Whi>ton,  successor  of  Newton  in  the  professorship  of  mathematics  at  Cambridge, 
swept  its  tail  over  the  earth  iu  the  days  of  Noah  and  produced  the  deluge  !— Ed. 

■Callender,  p.98,  [147].  In  1G8G  Mr.  S.  Hubbard  wrote  that  Mr.  Thornton,  and 
Mr.  Joseph  Clarke,  were  all  that  were  then  living  who  were  baptized  in  New  Eng- 
land before  him. 


[1683.]  DESCENDANTS  OF  ROGER  WILLIAMS.  415 

of  his   age,  being  fifty-two  years   after  his   arrival  in  this 
country. 

His  wife,  whose  name  was  Mary,  came  with  him  from 
England  ;  their  children  were,  1.  Mary,  born  at  Plymouth 
the  first  week  in  August,  1633.  2.  Freeborn,  at  Salem  in 
October,  1635.  3.  Providence,  born  at  the  place  he  so 
called,  in  September,  1638,  said  to  be  the  first  English  male 
born  there.  4.  Marcy,  born  July  15,  1640.  5.  Daniel, 
born  February  13,  1642.  6.  Joseph,  born  in  December, 
1643.  The  last  of  these,  and  a  grandson  of  the  same  name, 
were  magistrates  in  that  colony,  and  some  of  great  know- 
ledge, compute  his  present  posterity  at  near  two  thousand. 
Thomas  Ward,  Esq.,  who  was  a  Baptist  before  he  came  out 
of  Cromwell's  army,  and  wTas  a  very  useful  man  in  this 
colony,  was  ancestor  to  two  late  governors,  and  to  the  pre- 
sent secretary  of  it,  in  the  male  line,  as  Mr.  Williams  was  in 
the  female  ;  one  of  them  was  the  Honorable  Samuel  Ward, 
Esq.,  who  died  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  at 
Philadelphia,  on  March  26,  1776,  aged  52.  The  family  of 
Hopkins  in  Providence,  which  has  afforded  an  honorable 
member  of  that  Assembly,  and  two  commanders  for  the  con- 
tinental fleet,  descended  in  the  male  line  from  Mr.  Thomas 
Hopkins,  who  followed  Mr.  Williams  from  Plymouth,  and 
in  the  female  from  Mr.  Wickenden,  an  early  member,  and 
long  a  teacher  of  the  Baptist  church  there.  The  noted  fam- 
ily of  Brown,  in  Providence,  sprung  from  Mr.  Chad  Brown 
on  the  one  side,  and  from  Mr.  Williams  on  the  other.  And 
our  Generals,  Greene  and  Arnold,  sprung  from  two  of  the 
first  twelve  proprietors  of  those  lands,  which  were  given  for 
a  place  of  refuge  for  such  as  were  distressed  for  conscience 
sake  elsewhere.  May  that  great  design  never  be  forgotten 
by  us  or  ours  %  Some  have  been  ready  to  make  those  relig- 
ious contentions  and  oppressions  an  argument  against  all 
revealed  religion,  but  if  they  duly  consider  the  following 
things,  compared  with  the  foregoing,  perhaps  it  may  alter 
their  minds.     To  guard  against  evil  biases  in  our  dealings, 


416  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  great  Author  of  our  religion  said,  With  what  judgment 
ye  judge,  ye  shall  be  judged  ;  and  with  what  measure  ye 
mete,  it  shall  be  measured  to  you  again.  Was  not  his  word 
verified  in  the  following  instances  ? 

1.  The  ruling  party  in  the  Massachusetts,  had  not  only 
raked  up  the  real  faults  of  the  Baptists,  and  exposed  them 
in  their  worst  colors,  but  also  slandered  them  in  many  par- 
ticulars. And  now  Edward  Randolph  went  eight  voyages 
to  England  in  nine  years,  and  treated  them  in  the  same  man- 
ner at  the  British  Court,  on  purpose  to  get  away  their  char- 
ter.1 2.  By  a  plea  from  the  king's  grant  in  that  charter, 
they  had  cruelly  oppressed  their  brethren  and  neighbors  in 
many  instances  ;  now  in  1684  the  charter  was  vacated  by  a 
decree  in  chancery,  without  giving  them  opportunity  to 
answer  for  themselves  ;  and  "  those  who  were  in  confeder- 
acy with  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  for  the  enriching  themselves 
on  the  spoils  [ruins]  of  New  England,  did  invade  the  prop- 
erty as  well  as  liberty  of  the  subject ;  .  .  .  .  and  gave  out, 
that  now  their  charter  was  gone  all  their  lands  were  the 
king's  ;  that  themselves  did  represent  the  king,  and  there- 
fore men  that  would  have  any  legal  title  to  their  lands  must 
take  patents  of  them,  on  such  terms  as  they  should  sec  meet 
to  impose.  What  people  that  had  the  spirits  of  English- 
men could  endure  this  T2  3.  Their  charter  never  gave 
them  any  right  to  establish  their  mode  of  worship  by  force; 
but  in  order  to  do  it  they  presumed  to  leave  the  word  law- 
ful out  of  their  oaths  ;3  and  Ipswich  gave  an  early  example 
of  seizing  their  neighbors'  property  in  that  illegal  way, 
against  the  weighty  arguments  of  Judge  Symonds.4  Now 
the  scale  was  turned,  so  that  an  arbitrary  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil made  laws  and  imposed  taxes  upon  all,  without  any 
House  of  Representatives ;  and  for  refusing  to  carry  an 
order  for  such  a  tax  into  execution  in  Ipswich,   Mr.  John 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.1,  pp.  320,  335,  [297,  301.]  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  480,  490,  &c. 
'Revolution  in  New  England  .Justified,  printed  1691,  and  reprinted  1773,  p.  17. 
■See  pp.  47,  49.  4See  pp.  248,  249.— En. 


[1683.]  PKOVIDENTIAL  RETRIBUTIONS.  417 

Wise,  a  minister,  who  spake  upon  it  in  their  town  meeting, 
was  imprisoned,  and  denied  the  benefit  of  the  Habeas  Cor- 
pus Act ;  and  when  he  upon  his  trial  pleaded  the  Mag- 
na Charta,  and  laws  of  England,  he  was  told  by  one  of 
the  judges,  that  t;  he  must  not  think  the  laws  of  England 
followed  them  to  the  ends  of  the  earth."  "  Mr.  Wise,"  said 
he,  "  you  have  no  more  privilege  left  you,  than  not  to  be  sold 
for  slaves."  The  honorable  John  Appleton,  Esq.,  was  treated 
in  the  same  manner ;  and  both  were  put  from  office,  fined 
fifty  pounds  apiece,  and  ordered  to  give  bonds  of  one  thou- 
sand pounds  each,  for  their  good  behavior  for  one  year. 
Four  other  men  of  that  town  received  like  sentences,  only 
in  less  sums.1  Was  not  this  a  teaching  by  cudgel  instead 
of  argument  V  To  justify  or  excuse  their  making  the  law 
against  the  Baptists  in  1641,  Mr.  Hubbard  said  : — 

It  were  well  if  [all]  those  who  cannot  comply  with  the  religion  of  the 
state  or  place  where  they  live,  yet  had  so  much  manners  as  not  to  jostle 
against  nor  openly  practise  that  that  is  inconsistent  therewith,  as  if  they 
would  bid  a  kind  of  defiance  thereunto.  Moses  would  not  do  that  in  Egypt, 
upon  [the]  account  of  religious  worship,  that  might  seem  a  matter  of 
abomination  to  them  who  were  lords  of  the  place.3 

And  Dr.  Mather  had  lately  said : — 

If  a  considerable  number  of  Antipasdobaptists  should  (as  our  fathers 
here  did)  obtain  liberty  from  the  state,  to  transport  themselves  and  fami- 
lies, into  a  waste  American  wilderness,  that  so  they  might  be  a  peculiar 
people  by  themselves  ;  practising  all,  and  only  the  institutions  of  Christ ; 
if  now  Pasdobaptists  should  come  after  them,  and  intrude  themselves  upon 
them,.  ..  .surely  they  would  desire  such  persons  either  to  walk  orderly 
with  them,  or  return  to  the  place  from  whence  they  came.  Let  them  then 
do  as  they  would  be  done  by.4 

Now  John  Palmer,  one  of  Andros's  council,  to  vindicate 
their  conduct,  said,  "  It  is  a  fundamental  point,  consented  to 
by  all  Christian  nations,  that  the  first  discoverer  of  a  coun- 
try inhabited  by  infidels,   gives   [a]  right  and  dominion   of 
that  country  to  the  prince  in   whose   service   [and  employ- 
devolution  in  New  England,  Justified,  p.  16.  2See  page  80. 
3Hubbard,  pp.  373,  374.— Ed.                                         4Preface  to  Ne  Suior,  p.  5. 
27 


418  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NKW  ENGLAND. 

ment]  the  discoverers  were  sent."  But  they  of  Massachu- 
setts say.  "  We  affirm  that  this  fundamental  point,  as  he  calls 
it,  is  not  a  Christian,  but  an  unchristian  principle."1  Yes*, 
and  it  was  as  much  so  when  they  banished  Mr.  Williams, 
as  it  is  now.  4.  We  have  seen  how  Dr.  Mather  treated  the 
characters  of  the  Baptists  ;  now,  a  letter  is  forged  in  his 
name,  full  of  ridiculous  and  treasonable  expressions,  which 
being  pretendedly  detected  in  its  way  {o  Holland,  was  laid 
before  the  British  ministry,  and  then  was  printed  and  spread 
through  the  nation  to  expose  him.  When  he  came  to  know 
it  he  said,  "  That  which  troubled  me  was.  that  I  was  like  to 
suffer  as  an  evil  doer,  through  the  malice  and  falsehood  of 
wicked  men.  Might  I  have  suffered  for  any  truth  which  I 
had  borne  witness  to,  I  could  have  rejoiced  in  it."2  Yes; 
but  his  persecutors  were  as  little  inclined  to  give  him  that 
honor,  as  he  was  the  Baptists.  5.  Governor  Bradstreet  who 
helped  to  banish  Mr.  Williams,  for  opposing  an  oath  that 
was  contrary  to  his  conscience,  lived  to  feel  and  see  what 
such  impositions  meant  upon  themselves.  For  refusing  to 
swear  on  the  book,  many  were  not  only  put  by  from  serving 
on  juries,  but  were  fined  and  imprisoned  ;  and,  says  the  his- 
torian, ';  the  faithful  of  New  England  chose  rather  to  suf- 
fer afliiction,  than  to  use  a  rite  in  the  worship  of  God, 
which  they  suspected  sinful."3  And  Dr.  Increase  Mather 
took  pains  to  publish  a  discourse  upon  "  The  unlawfulness 
of  using  common  prayer  ;  and  of  swearing  on  the  book." 
6.  Andros  carried  his  Episcopal  worship  into  Mr.  Willard's 
meeting-house,  after  their  exercise  was  over,  and  threatened 
"  to  shut  up  their  doors  if  he  was  refused,  and  to  punish 
any  man  who  gave  two  pence  towards  the  support  of  Non- 
conformist ministers  ;  and  that  public  worship  in  the  Con- 
gregational way,  should  not  be  tolerated."  This  felt  so  to 
them,  that  when  King  James  sent  over  his  proclamation,  of 
indulgence  and  liberty  of  conscience,  "  the  ministers  of  Bos- 

1Kcvoluti(»n  justified,  p.  44.  -'His  Life,  pp.  03,  94.   • 

■Magnalia  B.  7,  pp.  3,  12,  13,  [Vol.  II,  pp.  434,  438,  439.] 


[1684. J  PROVIDETIAL  RETRIBUTIONS.  419 

ton  proposed  unto  their  congregations  to  keep  a  day  of 
thanksgiving,  to  bless  God  for  what  they  enjoyed  ;  [but  the 
Governor  assured  them]  "  that  if  they  did,  he  would  clap  a 
guard  on  their  persons  and  their  churches  too,"  and  so  pre- 
vented it.  Hereupon  they  thought  proper  to  send  Dr. 
Mather  as  their  agent  to  England.  He  had  accused  Ran- 
dolph or  his  brother,  of  forging  the  aforesaid  letter  to  ex- 
pose him  ;  upon  which  Randolph  prosecuted  him  for  defama- 
ation  ;  and  though  he  was  acquitted  upon  trial,  yet,  to  pre- 
vent his  going  to  England,  Randolph  designed  by  another 
writ  to  seize,  and  clap  him  up  in  prison  ;  to  avoid  which, 
Dr.  Mather  escaped  out  of  town  in  disguise,  and  was  car- 
ried on  board  a  ship  in  the  night,  April  7,  1688 ;  and  upon 
his  arrival  at  London,  he  with  others  petitioned  the  king, 
"  that  there  might  be  liberty  of  conscience  in  matters  of 
religion,  ....  and  that  all  their  meeting-houses  may  be  left 
free  to  them,  according  to  the  intention  of  the  builders 
thereof;  but  this  application  met  with  no  success."1 

Do  not  these  things  verify  the  truth  of  the  Christian  rev- 
elation? They  brought  Dr.  Mather  over  to  acknowledge, 
that  the  parable  of  the  tares  was  a  declaration  of  our  Sav- 
iour's will  for  a  toleration  ;  and  "  that  a  good  neighbor  and 
a  good  subject  has  a  claim  to  all  his  temporal  enjoyments 
before  he  is  a  Christian  ;  and  he  thought  it  very  odd,  that 
the  man  should  lose  his  claim,  from  his  embracing  of  Chris- 
tianity, because  he  does  not  happen  to  be  a  Christian  of  the 
uppermost  party  among  the  subdivisions.  For  an  upper- 
most party  of  Christians  to  punish  men,  in  their  temporal 
enjoyments,  because  in  some  religious  opinions  they  dissent 
from  them,  or  with  an  exclusion  from  the  temporal  enjoy- 
ments which  would  justly  belong  unto  them,  is  a  robbery."2 
And  how  wTere  the  Baptists  treated  after  this  1 

Their  church  at  Boston  had  received  Elder  John  Emblen 
from  England,  July   20,  1684.      Mr.  Richard  Dingley  was 

lHis  Life,  pp.  103—111.  Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  368,  [327.] 
2His  Life,  pp.  58,  59.     See  Isaiah,  61.  8. 


420  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

received  a  member  there  the  same  year,  and  soon  after  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Holmes  in  the  pastoral  office  at  Newport,  where 
he  continued  about  ten  years,  and  then  went  to  Carolina. 
Mr.  Samuel  Luther  succeeded  Mr.  Miles  at  Swanzey,  where 
he  was  ordained  by  our  elders,  Hull  and  Emblen,  on  July 
22,  1685,  and  he  was  continued  a  great  blessing  to  them 
thirty-two  years.  But  Elder  Emblen  dying  about  1699, 
that  church  remained  in  destitute  circumstances  for  some 
years,  and  then  chose  Mr.  Callender  in  his  room  ;  to  whom 
the  following  letter  was  directed,  the  original  of  which  is 
now  before  me. 

16d.  lm.     1714. 

Sirs  : — As  in  the  distresses  of  the  winter,  we  did,  with  the  solemnities 
of  humiliation,  call  upon  our  gracious  God,  so,  since  he  has  graciously 
recovered  so  maay  of  our  people,  and  sent  in  such  seasonable  provisions 
for  our  necessities,  it  has  been  proposed  among  the  ministers  of  the  [this]1 
town,  that  our  good  people  may  acknowledge  these  favors  of  our  prayer- 
hearing  Lord,  with  the  solemnity  [solemnities]  of  a  thauksgiving,  in  our 
several  congregations  ;  for  which,  also,  we  have  had  the  encouragement  of 
the  government.  The  time  we  would  propose  for  such  a  service  is  Thurs- 
day, the  first  of  April,  if  the  churches  have  no  objection  against  it.  And 
it  was  desired  that  you  might  be  seasonably  apprised  of  this  proposal, 
because  we  are  well  assured  of  the  welcome,  which  a  motion  of  such  a 
nature  will  find  with  you,  and  the  people  of  God  unto  whom  you  staud 
nearly  related.  Having  thus  discharged  the  duty  in  this  matter  incumbent 
on  me,  I  take  leave  to  [and]  subscribe, 

Sir,  your  brother  and  servant, 

Cotton  Mather. 
To  my  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Ellis  Callender,  elder  of  a  church   of  Christ  in 

Boston. 

His  son  Elishahad  joined  that  church  the  tenth  of  August 
preceding,  and  he  gave  him  an  education  at  Cambridge  ;  and 
Dr.  Increase  Mather  having  signified  his  willingness  for 
such  a  thing,  the  church  called  him,  his  son,  and  Mr.  John 
Webb,  to  assist  in  ordaining  the  said  Mr.  Elisha  Callender, 

'The  words  in  brackets,  indicate  the  form  of  this  letter  according  to  the  copy  in 
Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  papers. — Ed. 


[1684.]      MATHER'S  SERMON  AT  CALLENDER'S  ORDINATION.        421 

their  pastor1  on  May  21,  1718  ;  and  in  the  preface   to  that 
Ordination  Sermon,  the  old  gentleman  says  : — 

It  was  a  grateful  surprise  to  me,  when  several  of  the  brethren  of  the 
Antipaedqbaptist  persuasion  came  to  me,  desiring  that  I  would  give  them 
the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  in  ordaining  one  whom  they  had  chosen  to  be 
their  pastor.  I  did  (as  I  believe  it  was  my  duty)  readily  consent  to  what 
they  proposed  ;  considering  the  young  man  to  be  ordained  is  serious  and 
pious,  and  of  a  candid  spirit,  and  has  been  educated  in  the  college  at 
Cambridge  ;  and  that  all  of  the  brethren  of  that  church  with  whom  I  have 
any  acquaintance,  (I  hope  the  like  concerning  others  of  them)  are,  in  the 
judgment  of  rational  charity,  godly  persons. 

Two  of  them  were  old  Elder  Callender  and  Deacon 
Sweetser,  who  were  principal  members  when  their  meeting- 
house was  formerly  nailed  up.  Dr.  Cotton  Mather  preached 
the  Sermon,  which  he  entitled  Good  Men  United.  After 
opening  the  nature  and  importance  of  such  a  union,  he 
says : — 

It  is  very  sadly  true,  that  many  ecclesiastical  communities,  wherein  piety 
has  its  votaries,  yet  are  guilty  of  this  evil,  that  they  impose  terms  of  com- 
munion which  many  that  have  the  fear  of  God,  are  by  just  exceptions 
kept  from  complying  withal.  Now  in  this  unhappy  case  what  is  to  be 
done  ?  Do  this  ;  let  good  men  go  as  far  as  they  can  without  sin  in  holding 
communion  with  one  another.  But  where  sinful  terms  are  imposed,  there 
let  them  make  their  stops  ;  there  a  separation  becomes  a  duty  ;  there  the 
injunction  of  heaven  upon  them  is,  Be  ye  separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and 
touch  not  the   unclean   thing,  and   I  will  receive  you.     The   imposers  are 

l4'The  following  is  the  copy  of  the  letter  sent  to  the  church  under  the  care  of  Dr. 
Mather  and  Rev.  Mr.  Webb,  on  Mr.  Callender's  ordination : 

"Honored  and  beloved  in  the  Lord  :  Considering  that  there  ought  to  be  a 
holy  fellowship  maintained  among  godly  Christians,  and  that  it  is  a  duty  for  us  to 
receive  one  another  as  Christ  also  received  us,  to  the  glory  of  God,  notwithstanding 
some  differing  persuasions  in  matters  of  doubtful  disputation ;  and  although  we 
have  not  so  great  latitude  as  to  the  subject  of  baptism  as  the  churches  of  New  Eng- 
land generally  have  ;  notwithstanding,  as  to  the  fundamental  principles  in  your  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  both  as  to  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel,  we  concur  with  them ;  being 
also  satisfied  that  particular  churches  have  power  from  Christ  to  choose  their  own 
pastors,  and  that  elders  ought  to  be  ordained  in  every  church ;  and  having  chosen 
our  well  beloved  brother,  Elisha  Callender,  to  be  our  pastor,  we  entreat  you  to  send 
your  elders  and  messengers  to  give  the  Right  Hand  of  Fellowship  in  his  ordination." 
Notes  to  Memoir  of  John  Callender,  R.  I.  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV,  p.  27. 
—Ed. 


422  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  schismatics The   uuity  which    beautifies  the  true  people   of  God, 

is  called  The  unity  of  the  Spirit.  Eph.  4.  3.  The  right  basis  for  a  union 
among  us,  is,  the  Holy  Spirit  inclining  us  to  glorify  God,  with  an  obe- 
dience to  his  will  revealed  in  his  word  ;  and  to  glorify  our  Saviour  with  a 
dependence  on  him  for  all  the  blessings  of  goodness  ;  and  to  love  our  neigh- 
bor as  ourselves.  There  have  been  many  attempts  to  uuite  people  in  forms 
and  terms,  that  are  not  the  pure  maxims  of  living  unto  God  ;  and  so  to 
build  the  tower  of  Zion,  on  a  foundation  which  is  not  the  tried  stone  and 
the  precious,  and  so  not  the  sure  foundation.  There  has  hitherto  been  a 
blast  from  heaven  upon  all  those  attempts  ;  they  have  miscarried,  as  being 

rather  calculated  for  the  tower  of  Babel We  are  sometimes    fearful 

of  paying  the  respects  which  we  really  owe  to  a  people  of  true  piety,  (such 
a  people  as  we  this  day  meet  withal)  forsooth,  lest  we  confirm  them  in 
what  we  take  to  be  an  error,  or  mislead  others  into  it.  I  hope  it  is  need- 
less fear O,  you   who    cannot  but    own  yourselves  brethren   to  one 

another,  and  bound  up  in  one  bundle  of  life  ;  how  is  it  possible  for  you  to 
require  of  one  another,  submission  to  terms  which,  you  cannot  but  think 
that  men  may  be  good  men,  and  have  the  evident  tokens  of  salvation  upon 
them,  without  submitting  to?  Aud  the  terms  which  you  have  so  pitched 
upon,  how  can  you  proceed  so  far,  as  not  only  to  withdraw  your  fellowship 
from  the  good  men  to  whom  they  do  not  appear  so  necessary,  but  also 
inflict  uneasy  circumstances  upon  them,  under  the  wretched  notion  of 
wholesome  severities  !  (hirsed  the  anger, for  it  is  fierce ;  and  the  wrath,  for  it 
is  cruel !  good  for  nothing  but  only  to  make  divisions  in  Jacob,  and  disper- 
sions in  Israel.  Good  men,  alas  !  good  men  have  done  such  ill  things  as 
these  ;  yea,  few  churches  of  the  reformation  have  been  wholly  clear  of 
these  iniquities.  New  Eugland  also  has,  in  some  former  times,  done  some- 
thing of  this  aspect,  which  would  not  now  be  so  well  approved  of;  in 
which,  if  the  brethren  in  whose  house  we  are  now  conveued,  met  with  any 
thing  too  unbrotherly,  they  now  with  satisfaction  hear  us  expressing  our 
dislike  of  every  thing  t'  at  has  looked  like  persecution  in  the  days  that 
have  passed  over  us.1 

I  thought  it  best  thus  to  collect  these  passages  into  one 
view,  which  may  remind  us  of  the  apostle's  words,  "Happy 
is  he  that  condemneth  not  himself  in  that  thing  which  he 
alloweth."  After  the  vacation  of  the  Massachusetts  charter, 
Mr.  Joseph  Dudley  was  appointed  President  of  the  colony, 
till  Governor  Andros  arrived  in  December,  1686,  who  had 
all  New  England  and  New  York  included  in  his  commission. 

'Mather's  Sermon  at  Calender's  Ordination,  pp.  18,  25,  34,  38,  39. 


L1686.]  GOVERNMENT  OF  SIR  EDMUND  ANDROS.  423 

Randolph  brought  a  quo  warranto  against  Rhode  Island  char- 
ter, June  22,  1686,  upon  which  the  freemen  met,  and  gave 
their  opinion  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  then  left  the  af- 
fair with  them,  who,  on  June  29,  concluded  not  to  stand 
suit  with  his  Majesty,  but  sent  a  humble  address  to  him, 
"  to  continue  their  privileges  according  to  charter."  An- 
dros's  commission  was  published  among  them  the  12th  of 
January  following,  and  he,  with  a  few  mandamus  counsel- 
lors, tyrannized  over  all  these  colonies,  till  John  Winslow 
brought  a  copy  of  King  William's  proclamation  to  Boston, 
and  Andros  imprisoned  him  therefor  ;  upon  which  the  peo- 
ple arose,  April  13,  1689,  and  seized  him  and  his  council, 
and  resumed  their  former  order  of  government ;  which  be- 
ing heard  of  in  Rhode  Island  colony,  their  freemen  met  at 
Newport,  May  1,  and  voted  to  resume  their  charter,  and  to 
have  their  former  rulers  take  their  places  again.  They  met 
again  February  20,  1690,  and  elected  new  rulers  in  the 
place  of  some  who  declined  serving,  and  they,  with  Con- 
necticut, have  enjoyed  their  privileges  to  the  present  times. 
I  shall  close  this  chapter  with  a  list  of  New  England 
rulers,  and  a  few  remarks  thereon.  Plymouth  never  had 
any  charter  but  only  from  the  Council  for  New  England  that 
was  established  at  Plymouth  in  Devonshire.  Their  form  of 
government  was  settled  by  voluntary  agreement  among  them- 
selves. At  first  they  only  chose  a  Governor  ;  the  next  year, 
one  Assistant  with  him;  in  1624,  they  chose  five,  and  in 
1633,  seven  Assistants,  and  kept  to  that  number  to  the  end 
of  their  colony.  Mr.  Bradford  was  always  an  Assistant 
when  he  was  not  Governor,  as  long  as  he  lived  ;  his  son  was 
Assistant  and  then  Deputy  Governor  till  the  revolution  ;  and 
he  and  several  of  his  posterity  have  been  Counsellors  in  this 
province  ;  and  one  of  his  descendants1  is  now  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island.  In  1639,  they  began 
to  have  a  House  of  Deputies  in  their  General  Court ;  and 
about  1662,  they  agreed  that  their  eldest  Assistant  should 

'William  Bradford. — Ed. 


424  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

have  the  power  of  a  Deputy  Governor,  to  act  in  the  Gov- 
ernor's place  when  he  was  absent.  This  continued  till  1680. 
when,  by  reason  of  Mr.  Alden's  age,  though  they  continued 
him  an  Assistant,  they  began  to  choose  other  Deputy  Gov- 
ernors. 

A  list  of   Plymouth   Governors,  the  years   they   ruled,  and   the 

TIME    OF    THEIR    DEATHS. 

1.  Johu  Carver,  1G20  ;  died,  April,  1621. 

2.  William  Bradford,  1621—  33,1  35,  37,  39— 44,  45— 57  ;  died  May 
9,  1657,  aet.  69.2 

3.  Edward  Wiuslow,  1633,  36,  44  ;  died  May  8,  1655,  at.  61. 

4.  Thomas  Priuce,  1634,  38,  57—73;  died  March  29,  1673,  set.  73. 

5.  Josiah  Wiuslow,  1673—80  ;3  died  December  18,  1685,  Bet.  o2. 

6.  Thomas  Hinckley,  1681—86,  89—92;  died  1705,  aet.  74.4 

Deputy  Governors. 

1.  William  Colliar,  1662—66. 

2.  Johu  Alden,  1666—80. 

3.  Thomas  Hinckley,  1680. 

4.  James  Cudworth,  1681.  He  went  their  agent  to  England,  and  died 
there  the  same  year. 

5.  William  Bradford,  1682—86,  89—92. 

Assistants  ;   the    years    when  first  chosen,  as    far  as  I  can    find 

FROM   THEIR   RECORDS. 

Isaac  Allerton,  1621     William  Colliar,  1634 

Edward  Wiuslow,  Thomas  Priuce,  1635 

Miles  Standish,  Timothy  Ilatherly,  1636 

Johu  Howland,  Johu  Brown,  1636 

Johu  Aldeu,  John  Jenny,  1637 

John  Doaue,  Johu  Atwood,  1638 

Stephen  Hopkins,  Edmund  Freeman,  1640 

William  Gilson,5  1633     William  Thomas,  1642 

'From  the  election  in  1G21  to  the  election  of  his  success  or  in  1(>33.  This  explana- 
tion applies  to  the  other  terms  of  office,  similarly  indicated,  in  these  tallies.— Ed. 

•He  raj  in  his  sixty-ninth  year.  Generally,  in  these  tables,  Backus  seems  to 
have  given  the  ages  in  this  manner.— -Ed. 

•He  was  reelected  in  1680,  and  died  in  office. — Ed. 

4 Allen's  Biographical  Dictionary  gives  his  age,  seventy-five. — Ed. 

'Here  should  he  inserted  the  name  of  William  Bradford,  [n  1688  he  declined 
reelection  as  Governor,  and  was  made  an  Assistant.  See  Morton's  Memorial,  p.  115. 
— Ed. 


[1690.]  OFFICERS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS  COLONY.  425 


Thomas  Willet, 

1651 

Nathaniel  Bacon, 

1667 

Thomas  Soutlnvorth, 

1652 

Const.  Southworth, 

1670 

James  Cud  worth, 

1656 

Daniel  Smith, 

1679 

Josiah  Win  slow, 

1657 

Barnabas  Lothrop, 

1681 

William  Bradford, 

1658 

John  Thatcher, 

1682 

Thomas  Hinckley, 

1658 

John  Walley, 

1684 

James  Brown,1 

1665 

John  Cushing. 

1690 

John  Freeman, 

1666 

Note. — The  Appendix  to  Morton,  mistakes  in  placing  the  first  choice  of 
Cudworth  and  Brown  after  1670  ;  and  the  Magnalia  sets  Smith  too  early. 

Massachusetts  Governors. 

1.  Matthew  Cradock,  1628. 

2.  John  Winthrop,  1629—34,  37—40,  42—44,46—49;  died  March 
26,  1649,  aet.  62. 

3.  Thomas  Dudley,  1634,  40,  45,  50  ;  died  July  31,  1653,2  aet.  77. 

4.  John  Haines,  1635. 

5.  Henry  Vane,  1636  ;  died  1662,  set.  50. 

6.  Richard  Bellingham,  1641,  54,  65—72  ;3  died  1672,  set.  81. 

7.  John  Endicott,  1644,  49,  51—53,  55—65  ;  died  March  23,  1665. 

8.  John  Leverett,  1673—78;  died  March  16,  1678. 

9.  Simon  Bradstreet,  1678—86,  89—92  ;  died  March  27,  1697,  aet.  94. 

Deputy  Governors. 

1.  Thomas  Goff,  1628. 

2.  John  Humphrey,  1629. 

3.  John  Endicott,  1629,41—44,  50,54. 

4.  Thomas  Dudley,  1630—34,  37—40,  46—50,  51,  52. 

5.  Roger  Ludlow,  1634. 

6.  Richard  Bellingham,  1635,  40,  53,  55—65. 

7.  John  Winthrop,  1636,  44,  45. 

8.  Francis  Willoughby,  1665 — 71. 

9.  John  Leverett,  1671 — 73. 

10.  Samuel  Symonds,  1673 — 77. 

11.  Simon  Bradstreet,  1677,  78. 

12.  Thomas  Danforth,  1678—86,  89—92. 

*In  the  first  edition,  this  name  is  given,  James  Bawn.  It  is  a  typographical  error, 
as  the  name  is  afterwards  correctly  given. — Ed. 

2Allen's  Biographical  Dictionary,  usually  the  best  authority  in  early  New  Eng- 
land biography,  gives  this  date  erroneously,  1652.  The  American  Cyclopaedia  copies 
the  error.     See  p.  228;  Morton's  Memorial,  p.  166. — Ed. 

3He  was  reelected  in  1672,  and  died  in  office. — Ed. 


426 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND 


Sir  Richard  Saltonstall, 
Isaac  Johnson, 
John  Endicott, 
Increase  Nowel, 
William  Vassel, 
William  Pinchon, 
Edward  Rossiter, 
Roger  Ludlow, 
Thomas  Sharp, 
John  Revel, 
William  Coddington, 
Simon  Bradstreet,1 
John  Humphrey, 
John  Winthrop,  jun., 
John  Haines, 
Atherton  Hough, 
Richard  Dumiuer, 
Richard  Bellingham, 
Roger  Harlakenden, 
Israel  Stoughton, 
Richard  Saltonstall, 
Thomas  Flint, 
Samuel  Symonds, 
Will.  Hibbens, 
Herbert  Pelham, 
Robert  Bridges, 
Fraucis  Willoughby, 
Thomas  Wiggan, 
Edward  Gibbons, 
John  Glover, 
Daniel  Gookin, 
Daniel  Denison, 
Simon  Willard, 

Their  charter  appointed  e 
chosen  above  half  so  many 
number  in  1G80. 


Assistants. 

II.  Atherton, 

1654 

Richard  Russell, 

1659 

Thomas  Danforth, 

1659 

William  Hawthorn, 

1662 

Eleazer  Lusher, 

1662 

John  Leverett, 

1665 

John  Pinchon, 

1665 

Edward  Tyng, 

1668 

William  Stoughton, 

1671 

Thomas  Clarke, 

1673 

Joseph  Dudley, 

1676 

Peter  Bulkley, 

1677 

1632 

N.  Saltonstall, 

1679 

1632 

Humphrey  Davy, 

1679 

1634 

James  Russell, 

1680 

1635 

Samuel  Nowel, 

1680 

1G35 

Peter  Tilton, 

1680 

1636 

John  Richards, 

1680 

1636 

John  Hull, . 

1680 

1637 

B.  Gidney, 

1680 

1637 

Thomas  Savage, 

1680 

1642 

William  Brown, 

1680 

1643 

Samuel  Appletou, 

1681 

1643 

Robert  Pike, 

1682 

1645 

Dauiel  Fisher, 

1683 

1647 

John  Woodbridge, 

1683 

1650 

Elisha  Cooke, 

1684 

1650 

William  Johnson, 

1684 

1651 

John  Hawthorn, 

1684 

1652 

Elisha  Hutchinson, 

1684 

1652 

Isaac  Addington, 

1686 

1653 

John  Smith. 

1686 

1654 

:ighteen 

Assistants,  but    they  had 

scarce  ever 

,  till  by 

the    King's  order    they  cl 

lose  the  full 

'These  twelve  were  here  in   1030,  but  Johnson   and  Elossiter  died  before  the  year 
was  out.      Saltonstall,  Vassel,  Sharp  and  Revel  soon  went  back.—  B. 

Eighteen  Assistants  were  chosen   in  1G28,  only  five  of  whom   are  here  named. 
Others,  not  mentioned  here,  were  chosen  between  1G2!)  and  1G32.— Ku. 


[1690.]       CONSTITUTION  OF  RHODE  ISLAND  GOVERNMENT.         427 

Rhode  Island  Rulers. 
Roger  Williams,  was  truly  the  founder  of  that  Colony, 
and  a  principal  ruler  among  them,  as  we  have  seen  from  the 
beginning.  Those  who  began  upon  the  Island  had  a  differ- 
ent notion  about  government  from  him  at  first,  and  as  their 
covenant  on  page  74,  was  printed  from  an  imperfect  copy, 

1  shall  here  insert  it  exactly  from  their  records  as  follows  : — 

We  whose  names  are  under-written  do  here  solemnly,  in  the  presence  of 
Jehovah,  incorporate  ourselves  into  a  body  politic,  and  as  he  shall  help, 
Exod.  34, 3, 4.i  1  w^  submit  our  persons,  lives  and  estates,   unto  our  Lord 

2  Chron.  ii,  3.  >  Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  to 
2  Kings  11, 17.  '  all  those  perfect  and  most  absolute  laws  of  his,  given  us  in 
his  Holy  Word  of  truth,  to  be  guided  and  judged  thereby. 

They  then  appointed  Mr.  Coddington  as  Judge,  and  Mr. 
Aspinwall  Secretary,  to  rule  them  according  to  this  cove- 
nant, till  on  January  2,  1639,  an  assembly  of  the  freemen 
said : — 

By  the  consent  of  the  body  it  is  agreed  that  such  who  shall  be  chosen 
to  the  place  of  Eldership,  they  are  to  assist  the  Judge  in  the  execution  of 
justice  and  judgment,  for  the  regulating  and  ordering  of  all  offences  and 
offenders,  and  for  the  drawing  up  and  determining  of  all  such  rules  and 
laws  as  shall  be  according  to  God,  which  may  conduce  to  the  good  and 
welfare  of  the  commonweal ;  and  to  them  is  committed  by  the  body  the 
whole  care  and  charge  of  all  the  affairs  thereof;  and  that  the  Judge  together 
with  the  Elders,  shall  rule  and  govern  according  to  the  general  rules 
[rule]  of  the  word  of  God,  when  they  have  no  particular  rule  from  God's 
word,  by  the  body  prescribed  as  a  direction  unto  them  in  the  case.  And 
further,  it  is  agreed  and  consented  unto,  that  the  Judge  and  [with  the] 
Elders  shall  be  accountable  unto  the  body  once  every  quarter  of  the  year, 
(when  as  the  body  shall  be  assembled)  of  all  such  cases,  actions  or  [and] 
rules  which  have  passed  through  their  hands,    by  them  to   be  scanned  and 

lrThis  reference  is  retained,  as  printed  in  the  former  edition,  and  as  Backus  gave 
it  twenty-seven  years  later  in  his  Abridgment,  page  43.  We  are  informed  of  a 
recent  "  letter  from  Hon.  John  R.  Bartlett,  Secretary  of  Rhode  Island,"  which  states 
"that  the  original  manuscript  of  the  covenant  of  the  early  settlers  of  Rhode  Island 
has  the  marginal  notes  precisely  as  published  by  Mr,  Backus."  The  published  R.  I. 
Colonial  Records  give  the  reference,  Exodus  24.  3,  4 ;  and  Professor  Elton,  in  an 
Appendix  to  Callender's  Century  Sermon,  11.  I.  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV,  p. 
213,  gives  it  in  the  same  form.  This  passage  seems  to  have  a  plain  significance  and 
the  one  given  above  scarce  any  significance  in  connection  with  the  covenant. — Ed. 


428  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

weighed  by  the  word  of  Christ ;  and  if  by  the  body  or  any  of  them,  the 
Lord  shall  be  pleased  to  dispense  light  to  the  contrary  of  what  by  the 
Judge  or  [and]  Elders  hath  been  determined  formerly,  that  then  and  there 
it  shall  be  repealed  as  the  act  of  the  body  ;  and  if  it  be  otherwise,  that 
then  it  shall  stand,  (till  further  light  concerning  it)  for  the  present,  to  be 
according  to  God,  and  the  tender  care   of  indulging    [iudulgent]  fathers. 

William  Dyke,  Clerk." 

They  then  chose  the  elders  named  in  page  78,  and  went 
on  as  is  there  mentioned,  till  March  16,  164:1,  when  they  dis- 
franchised Carder,  Holden,Shatton  and  Potter,  and  suspended 
from  voting  George  Parks,1  John  Briggs,  and  Mr.  Lenthal, 
who  was  gone  for  England  ;  and  then  said,  "It  is  ordered 
by  the  authority  of  this  present  Court,  that  none  be  accounted 
a  delinquent  for  doctrine,  provided  it  be  not  directly  repug- 
nant to  the  government  and  laws  established."  In  Septem- 
ber following  they  said,  "  The  law  concerning  liberty  of  con- 
science in  point  of  doctrine  is  perpetuated."  After  they  re- 
ceived their  charter,  their  rulers  wTere  as  follows : — 

Presidents  or  Governors. 
John  Coggshall,  1647. 

Roger  Williams,  16482,  54—57  ;  died  1683,  aet.  84. 
John  Smith,  1649,  52. 

Nicholas  Easton,  1650,  51,  72,  73  ;  died  1675. 
Gregory  Dexter,  1653. 

Benedict  Arnold,  1657,-60,  62—66,  69—72,  77,  78  ;  died  June  19, 
1678. 

William  Brentou,  1660—62,  66—69,  died  1674. 

William  Coddington,  1774,  75,  78  ;  died  November  1,  1678,  xt.  78. 

Walter  Clarke,  1676,  86,  96,  97  ;  died  June,  1714. 

John  Cranston,  1678—80;    died  March  12,  1680. 

Peleg  Sanford,  1680—83. 

William  Coddington,  1683—85;  died  1688. 

'This  name  should  probably  be  Parker.  It  is  several  times  given  thus  in  the 
Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records. — Ed. 

'William  CoddingtOD  was  elected  President  this  year.  As  he  did  not  appear  at 
the  Assemhly,  and  charges  arose  against  him,  Jeremy  Clarke  was  appointed  to  fill 
his  place,  with  the  title  of  President  Regent.  At  a  ipecial  Assemhly  in  Warwick, 
in  March,  1G49,  before  the  close  of  this  Legislative  year,  Roger  Williams  was  chosen 
to  act  as  President.  Bee  pp.  168—171}  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records;  Arnold's 
History  of  Rhode  Island,  Vol.  I,  pp.  219— 225.  —  Ed. 


[1690.] 


OFFICERS  IN  RHODE  ISLAND  COLONY. 


429 


Henry  Bull,  1685,  89. 

John  Easton,  1690—95  ;   died  1705,  ast.  85. 

Caleb  Carr,  1695. 

Samuel  Cranston,  1698—1727;   died  April  26,  1727. 

Joseph  Jencks,  1727 — 32  ;  died  June  15,  1740,  aged  84. 

William  Wanton,  1732—34. 

John  Wanton,  1734—41. 

Richard  Ward,  1741—43. 

William  Greene,  1743—45,  46,  48—55,  57. 

Gideon  Wanton,  1745,  47. 

Stephen  Hopkins,  1755 — 57,  58 — 62,  64,  67 — 69. 

Samuel  Ward,  1762—64,  65—67. 

Josias  Lyndon,  1769. 

Joseph  Wanton,  1770—75. 

Nich.  Cooke,  1775 — 77. 

Deputy  Governors. 


William  Brenton,  1663—66. 

Nicholas  Easton,  1666 — 69,  70. 

John  Clarke,  1669,  71.. 

John  Cranston,  1672,  76 — 78. 

John  Easton,  1674,  75.1 

James  Barker,  1678,  79. 

Walter  Clarke,  1679—85, 1701—14. 

John  Coggshall,  1690. 

John  Greene,  1690—1701. 

Henry  Tew,  1714. 

Joseph  Jencks,  1715—21,  23—27. 

John  Wanton,  1721—23,  29—34. 

Jonathan  Nichols,  1727. 

Thomas  Fry,  1727—29. 

George  Hazard,  1734—38. 


Daniel  Abbott,  1738—40. 
Richard  Ward,  1740. 
William  Greene,  1741—43. 
Joseph  Whipple,   1743—45,  46,  52 

—54. 
William  Robinson,  1745,  47. 
William  Ellery,  1748—50. 
Robert  Hazard,  1750 — 52. 
J.  Gardner,  1754,  56—64. 
Jonathan  Nichols,  1755. 
Joseph  Wanton,  jun.,  1764,  67 — 69. 
Elisha  Brown,  1765—67. 
Nicholas  Cooke,  1769,  75. 
Darius  Session,  1770 — 75. 
William  Bradford,  1775—77. 


Assistants. 

Roger  Williams, 

1647 

Samuel  Gorton, 

1649 

John  Sanford, 

1647 

William  Field, 

1650 

W.  Coddington, 

1647 

John  Porter, 

1650 

Randal  Holden, 

1647 

John  Wickes, 

1650 

Jeremiah  Clarke, 

1648 

John  Sayles, 

1653 

John  Smith, 

1648 

•Stukely  Westcoat, 

1653 

Thomas  Olney, 

1649 

Thomas  Harris, 

1654 

John  Clarke, 

1649 

John  Roome, 

1654 

lrThe  name  of  William  Coddington  should  here  be  inserted,  as  Deputy  Governor 
in  1678.— Ed. 


430 


HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Benedict  Arnold, 

1654 

John  Albro, 

1671 

William  Baolston, 

1656 

Richard  Smith, 

1672 

John  Coggshall, 

1056 

Francis  Brinlev, 

1672 

Arthur  Venner, 

1657 

Henry  Brown, 

1672 

Richard  Tew, 

1657 

Walter  Clarke. 

1673 

Joseph  Clarke, 

1658 

Daniel  Gould, 

1673 

John  Greene, 

1660 

Job  Almy, 

1673 

James  Barker,1 

1663 

Henry  Bull, 

1674 

Walter  Todd, 

1664 

Benjamin  Barton, 

1674 

John  Gardner, 

1665 

Edward  Thurston, 

1675 

Edward  Smith, 

1665 

Thomas  Barden, 

167o 

William  Carpenter, 

1665 

William  Codman, 

1676 

John  Brown, 

1665 

Samuel  Gorton,  juu., 

1676 

Samuel  Wilbore, 

1665 

John  Whipple, 

1677 

John  Eastou, 

1666 

Thomas  Greene, 

1678. 

William  Harris, 

1666 

Caleb  Carr, 

1679 

Richard  Carder, 

1666 

Thomas  Ward, 

1679 

Benjamin  Smith, 

1666 

William  Coddington, 

1680 

Peleg  San  ford, 

1667 

Joseph  Jenckes, 

1680 

William  Reape, 

1667 

George  Lawton, 

1680 

Stephen  Arnold, 

1667 

Richard  Arnold, 

1681 

John  Cranston, 

1668 

John  Potter, 

1685 

Thomas  Olney,  jun. 

1660 

Walter  Newbury, 

1686 

Joshua  Coggshall, 

1669 

Benedict  Arnold, 

1990 

John  Tripp, 

1670 

Christopher  Almy. 

1690 

James  Greene, 

1670 

Connecticut 

Governors. 

Edward    Hopkins, 

1636  ;    died    in 

J.  Winthrop,3  died  1707. 

England,  1657. 

G.  Saltonstall,  1707—24. 

John  Haines, 

J.  Talcot,  1724—41  ;  died  October, 

George  Wyllys. 

1741. 

Thomas  Wells. 

Jona.  Law,  1741 — 50;  died  ] 

[750. 

John  Webster. 

B.  Woolcot,  1750—54. 

J.  Wintl.rop,'-'  1662- 

—76  ;  died  April 

Thomas  Eitch,  1754 — 66. 

5,  1676,  eet.  71. 

Wffl.  Pitkin,  1766—69;  died 

1769. 

William  Leete. 

Joua.  Trumbull,  1761) — 77. 

Robert  Treat. 

'The  above-named  Messrs.  Baulston,  Porter,  Williams,  Olney,  Smith,  Greene, 
Coggshall,  Barker,  Field  and  Joseph  Clarke,  were  the  ten  Assistant!  appointed  in 
their  last  charter. 

'John  Winthrop  son  of  John  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts. — Ed. 

'John,  otherwise  called  Fitz  John.  Winthrop,  son  of  a  previous  Conneeticut  Gov- 
ernor.— Ed. 


L1690.]  REMARKS  ON  THE  COLONIAL  GOVERNMENTS.  431 

New  Haven  Governors. 

Theo.  Eaton,  1G37— 57;  died  1657.      Wm.Leete,  1G60— G2. 
F.  Newman,  1C57— GO;  died  16G0. 

Brief  Remarks. 
1.  These  facts  may  teach  us  what  to  think  of  the  excla- 
mations that  have  often  heen  made  against  a  free  govern- 
ment, where  each  freeman  may  have  a  voice  in  choosing 
their  chief  rulers.  Plymouth  had  this  liberty  in  its  full 
extent ;  having  full  power  to  lay  the  plan  of  their  govern- 
ment as  they  pleased,  and  to  elect  whom  they  would  into 
office.  Each  freeman  in  that  colony  had  his  equal  vote  in 
the  annual  choice  of  their  Governor  ;  and  had  not  Governor 
Bradford  requested  them  sometimes  to  elect  others  into  that 
office,  it  is  probable  that  in  the  whole  seventy-three  years 
of  their  continuance  as  a  distinct  colony,  they  would  never 
have  changed  it  into  any  more  hands  than  death  obliged 
them  to  ;  and,  in  fact,  they  never  did  but  five  times  in  all 
those  years  ;  and  New  Haven  made  no  such  change  while 
they  remained  a  distinct  government.  And  we  have  a  good 
evidence  that  even  a  sergeant  in  Plymouth  militia  was  treat- 
ed with  more  honorable  regards  than  captains  have  now 
been  for  these  many  years  past.  In  Connecticut  where 
their  Governors  have  always  been  elected  annually,  by  votes 
of  the  freemen  sent  in  from  every  town  in  the  colony,  they 
have  chosen  but  sixteen  men  in  a  hundred  and  forty  years, 
and  but  ten  in  a  hundred  years,  only  two  or  three  of  whom 
were  left  out  of  office  till  they  died.  And  the  Massachu- 
setts chose  but  eight  Governors  in  sixty-three  years.  But 
since  this  fickle  popularity  (as  some  call  such  government) 
was  taken  away,  and  the  power  was  vested  in  a  crowned 
head,  to  fix  Governors  over  us  by  a  steady  commission,  in 
which  the  people  had  no  voice,  the  province  in  eighty-two 
years  has  had  a  Phips,  S  to  ugh  ton,  Bellamont,  Dudley,  Tai- 
lor, Shute,  Dummer.  Burnet,  Belcher,  Shirley,  Phips,  Pow- 
nal,  Bernard,   Hutchinson,  and   Gage,  for   commanders-in- 


432  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

chief,  who  have  each  in  their  turns  been  invested  with 
power,  to  negative  our  councillors  when  elected,  and  to  neg- 
ative any  and  every  act  that  our  Assembly  could  pass,  and 
to  dissolve  them  when  they  pleased.  All  these  in  a  space 
when  Connecticut  had  but  about  half  so  many  governors, 
and  in  thirty-four  years  of  the  time  Rhode  Island  had  but 
two.  And  the  evil  effects  afterward  of  a  depreciating  cur- 
rency, and  of  party  influence  in  elections,  all  need  to  beware 
of  at  this  day.  Hence,  2.  Learn  the  importance  of  viewing 
persons  and  actions  in  their  distinct  light,  so  as  not  to  con- 
found good  and  evil,  truth  and  falsehood,  together.  God 
says,  Only  by  pride  cometh  contention ;  but  with  the  well- 
advised  is  wisdom.  Pride  caused  a  contention  about  who 
should  be  greatest,  even  among  the  apostles,  and  made  them 
think  of  calling  for  fire  from  heaven  to  consume  such  as 
would  not  receive  them.  And  Dr.  Owen  well  says,  "  Gos- 
pel constitutions,  in  the  case  of  heresy  or  error,  seem  not  to 
favor  any  course  of  violence,  I  mean  of  civil  penalties. 
Foretold  it  is,  that  heresies  must  be;  I  Cor.  11.  19;  but 
this  for  the  manifesting  of  those  who  are    approved,  not  the 

destroying  of  those  that  are  not Perhaps  those  who 

call  for  the  sword  on  earth,  are  as  unacquainted  with  their 
own  spirits,  as  those  that  called  for  fire  from  heaven.  Luke 
11.  And  perhaps  the  parable  of  the  tares  gives  in  a  posi- 
tive rule  as  to  this  whole  business."1  These  sentiments  were 
inculcated  upon  our  Plymouth  fathers  before  they  came  to 
this  country.2  Governor  Bradford  was  the  owner  of  the 
book  which  contained  them,  that  I  am  now  favored  with ; 
and  while  he  continued  Governor,  Mr.  Williams  could  be 
comfortable  at  Plymouth  ;  but  when  Mr.  Winslow  came 
into  that  office  in  1633,  he  requested  a  dismission  to  Salem. 
And  the  second  time  Mr.  Winslow  was  Governor,  he  wrote 
to  Mr.  Williams  to  remove  out  of  that  jurisdiction,3  and  a 
law   was  made  that  year  to  forbid   the    gathering    of  any 

•See  pp.   18,  22.  'Collection  of  his  Tracts,  1721,  p.  314.  3Soe  p.  57. 


[1690.]  CONTENTION  UPON  MINISTERS'  RATES.  433 

church  therein  without  the  rulers'  leave.  He  and  Mr.  Col- 
liar  were  the  Commissioners  for  Plymouth,  who,  on  Septem- 
ber 7,  1643,  signed  the  articles  of  confederation  that  the 
other  three  colonies  had  entered  into  the  May  before  ;  and 
who  then  concurred  in  the  delivery  of  Miantinomo  to  Uncas 
to  be  slain,  (though  without  torture,)  and  in  advising  the 
Massachusetts  to  send  an  armed  force  to  Warwick.  He  was 
again  a  Commissioner  in  their  meeting  at  Hartford,  Septem- 
ber 1,  1644,  when  they  wrote  to  each  colony,  to  enter  upon 
a  method  of  rating  all  persons  by  authority,  that  refused  or 
neglected  to  give  what  the  rulers  judged  to  be  their  meet 
proportion  toward  ministers'  maintenance ;  against  which 
Mr.  John  Brown,  the  other  Plymouth  Commissioner,  entered 
his  dissent.  In  October,  1645,  in  a  thin  Assembly  at  Ply- 
mouth, Mr.  Winslow  propounded,  "  and  after  a  whole  day's 
agitation"  got  something  of  this  nature  allowed  and  entered 
upon  their  waste  book ;  but  when  a  full  Assembly  met  the 
next  week,  Mr.  Brown  and  other  magistrates,  "  excepted 
the  entry  of  that  order,  as  pernicious  and  destructive  to  the 
weal  of  the  government,  and  tendered  a  proposition,  to  allow 
and  maintain  full  and  free  tolerance  of  religion,  to  all  men 
that  would  preserve  the  civil  peace,  and  submit  to  govern- 
ment."1 But  Mr.  Winslow  had  influence  enough  to  prevent 
the  putting  of  that  matter  to  vote.  When  the  Commis- 
sioners met  at  New  Haven,  September  9,  1646,  they  said  : — 

Upon  information  of  what  petitions  have  been  lately  put  up  in  some  of 
the  colonies  against  the  good  and  straight  ways  of  Christ,  both  in  the 
churches  and  in  the  Commonwealth,  the  Commissioners,  remembering  that 
these  colonies,  for  themselves  and  their  posterity,  did  unite  [enter]  into 
this  form  of  [firm  and]  perpetual  league,  as  for  other  respects,  so  for 
mutual  advice,  that  the  truth  and  liberties  of  the  gospel  might  be  pre- 
served and  perpetuated,  [propagated]  thought  it  their  duty  seriously  to  com- 
mend it  to  the  care  and  jurisdiction  [consideration]  of  each  General  Court 
within  these  United  Colonies,  that,  as  they  have  laid  their  foundations  and 
measured  the  house  [temple]  of  God,  the  worship  and  worshippers,  by 
the  rod  [that  straight  reed]  God  hath  put  into  their  hands,  so  they  would 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  153, 154. 
28 


4:34  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

walk  on,  and  build  up  (all  discouragements  and  difficulties  notwithstand- 
ing) with  an  undaunted  heart  and  unwearied  hand,  according  to  the  sure 
rules  and  patterns ;...  .that  anabaptism,  familism,  antinomianism,  and 
generally  all  errors  of  like  nature,  which  oppose,  undermine  and  slight 
either  the  Scriptures,  the  Sabbath  or  other  ordinances  of  God,  and  bring  in 
and  cry  up  unwarrantable  revelations,  inventions  of  men,  or  any  carnal 
liberty,  under  a  deceitful  color  of  liberty  of  conscience,  may  be  season- 
ably and  duly  suppressed ;  though  they  wish  as  much  forbearance  and 
respect  may  be  had  of  tender  consciences,  seeking  light,  as  may  stand  with 
the  purity  of  religion  and  peace  of  the  churches. 

The  commissioners  for  Plymouth,  Brown  and  Hatherly, 
did  not  concur  with  this.1 

Mr.  Winslow  was  then  gone  to  England,  from  whence  he 
never  returned  ;  and  not  having  his  influence,  all  the  minis- 
ters in  Plymouth  colony,  and  the  Massachusetts  Court  to 
help  them,  could  not  prevail  in  1650,  with  Governor  Brad- 
ford and  his  Court,  to  inflict  so  much  as  a  fine  upon  Mr. 
Holmes  ;  who  was  most  cruelly  whipped  at  Boston,  the  next 
year.2  Said  ministers  were  not  of  the  original  planters  of 
Plymouth  colony,  and  because  their  Court  would  not  be 
governed  by  them,  the  most  of  them  left  it,  and  carried 
their  complaints  to  Boston,  from  whence  fresh  exertions 
were  made,  which  then  in  a  measure  introduced  a  State- 
worship,  and  State- way  of  maintenance  into  Plymouth  col- 
ony. Though  the  bloody  work  that  followed  at  Boston, 
gave  such  a  shock  to  it  as  turned  them  back  again  in  a 
great  measure.  Mr.  John  Brown  had  been  a  magistrate 
seventeen  years,  and  a  Commissioner  for  his  colony  eleven 
years,  even  down  to  1656.  And  we  are  told  that  he  was, 
"well  accomplished  with  abilities  [in]  both  civil  and  religious 
[concernments]  and  attained,  through  [God's]  grace,  unto  a 
comfortable  persuasion  of  the  love  and  favor  of  God  to 
him  ;  he,  falling  sick  of  a  fever,  with  much  serenity  and 
spiritual  comfort  fell  asleep  in  the  Lord,  at  Wannamoiset 
near  Kehoboth,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1662."3  His  son 
James  joined  the  next  year  in  forming  a  Baptist  church 

'Records  of  the  United  Colonies.      'See  page  177,  &c.       3Morton,  pp.  175,  176. 


[1690,]  COEKCION  IN  RELIGION  AN  EVIL.  435 

there,  and  both  in  1665  and  1666,  the  freemen  through  the 
colony  elected  him  for  one  of  their  magistrates,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  Massachusetts  Court  disfranchised  two  of  their 
ancient  freemen,  for  no  worse  crime  than  Mr.  Brown  then 
lived  in.1  Though  he  did  not  see  cause  then  to  accept  of 
that  office,  yet  being  chosen  again  in  1673,  he  accepted  it, 
and  served  his  colony  therein  eleven  years ;  in  the  midst  of 
which  time  persecution  was  again  revived  at  Boston,  and 
Mr.  Brown  and  his  minister  were  fined  for  visiting  their 
afflicted  brethren  there.  With  what  face  then  can  any  man 
reproach  New  England  in  general,  with  the  persecutions 
which  its  first  founders,  and  many  of  its  best  members  after- 
ward abhorred?  And  of  all  men  how  inexcusable  are 
Episcopalians  in  so  doing,  when  it  was  the  errors  which 
Massachusetts  brought  out  of  their  church  that  produced 
all  those  mischiefs,  of  which  they  were  then,  and  have  been 
ever  since,  much  more  guilty  than  those  they  complain  of 
here  !  In  England  and  Scotland  they,  in  that  day,  destroyed 
more  hundreds  of  lives,  in  trying  to  establish  their  suprem- 
acy over  the  consciences  of  men,  than  the  Massachusetts 
hanged  persons.  And  they  have  not  only  always  taxed  dis- 
senters to  their  ministers  wherever  they  could  get  power  to 
do  it,  but  also  in  Virginia,  they  have  fined  and  imprisoned 
our  ministers  only  for  preaching  without  their  license  ;  and 
continued  this  cruel  trade  till  the  present  rupture  put  a  stop 
to  it.  3.  Hence,  see  the  pernicious  evil  of  using  carnal 
weapons  in  religious  affairs.  Papists,  Episcopalians,  Pres- 
byterians and  Congregationalists,  have  all  tried  it  in  their 
turns  ;  but,  instead  of  giving  up  the  root  of  this  mischief, 
they  have  each  of  them  tried  to  cast  all  the  reproach  of  it, 
upon  the  bad  dispositions  of  their  neighbors ;  and  so  it  has 
been  a  constant  source  of  raillery  and  slander.  But  where 
can  a  better  set  of  men  be  found  upon  earth,  since  Cons  tan- 
tine  first  brought  the  carnal  weapon  into  the  church,  who 
concurred  in  using  of  it  there,  than  the  fathers  of  the  Mas- 

lSee  pages  298,  303.— Ed. 


436  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

sachusctts  I  Look  back  to  pages  114 — 116,  and  then  tell 
me  where  you  can  find  a  more  excellent  ruler  than  Gov- 
ernor AVinthrop,  that  ever  traveled  in  that  path?  And  Mr. 
Shepard  of  Cambridge,  who  died  five  months  after  him, 
said : — 

Surely  all  the  persons,  whose  hearts  the  Lord  stirred  up  in  this  business, 
were  not  rash,  weak-spirited,  inconsiderate  of  what  they  left  behind,  or 
what  it  was  to  go  into  a  wilderness.  But  if  we  were  able  to  recount  the 
singular  workings  of  Divine  Providence,  for  the  bringing  on  this  work  to 
what  it  is  come  unto,  it  would  stop  the  mouths  of  all.  Whatever  many 
may  say  or  think,  we  believe  after  times  will  admire  and  adore  the  Lord 
herein,  when  all   his  holy  ends,  and  the  ways  he  has  used  to  bring  them 

about  shall  appear What  shall  we  say  of  the  singular  providence  of 

God,  in  bringing  so  many  ship-loads  of  his  people  through  so  many  dan- 
gers, [as  on  eagles'  wings]  with  so  much  safety  from  year  to  year?1  the 
fatherly  care  of  our  God,  in  feeding  and  clothing  so  many  in  a  wilderness, 
giving  such  healthiness  and  great  increase  of  posterity?  ....  But  above  all, 
we  must  acknowledge  the  singular  pity^  and  mercies  of  our  God,  that  hath 
done  all  this,  and  much  more,  for  a  people  so  unworthy,  so  sinful,  that  by 
murmurings  of  many,  uufaith fulness  in  promises,  oppressions,  and  other 
evils  that  are  found  among  us.  have  so  dishonored  his  Majesty,  exposed  his 
work  here  to  much  scandal  and  obloquy,  for  which  we  have  cause  forever 
to  be  ashamed  ;  that  the  Lord  should  yet  own  us,  and  rather  correct  us  in 
measure,  [mercy]  than  cast  us  off  in  displeasure,  and  scatter  us  in  this 
wilderness.2 

We  are  informed  that  when  Governor  Winthrop  lay  on 
his  death  bed,  Mr.  Dudley  requested  him  to  sign  a  warrant 
to  banish  Mr.  Mathews,  a  Welsh  minister,  but  that  he  re- 
fused, saying,  "  I  have  had  my  hand  too  much  in  such  things 
already."3 

'It  was  computed  that  from  1628  to  1043,  (when  the  times  turned  in  England,  and 
some  went  back,)  the  number  of  ships  which  brought  them  over  were  two  hundred 
and  ninety-eight ;  the  men,  women  and  children  who  came  in  them,  twenty-one 
thousand  two  hundred,  or  thereabout.  That  the  passage  of  the  persons  cost  ninety- 
five  thousand  pounds,  the  live  stock,  twelve  thousand  pounds,  beside  the  price  of 
them  in  England;  procuring  food  till  they  could  raise  it  here,  forty-five  thousand; 
nails,  glass  and  other  material  for  building,  eighteen  thousand;  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion, twenty-two  thousand;  in  all,  one  hundred  and  ninety-two  thousand  pounds,  be- 
side much  more  which   the  adventures  laid  out  in  England  for  their  use.     Johnson, 

pp.  28— :n. 

■Magnalia,  B.  3,  p.  89.  [Vol.  II,  pp.  350,  351.]  3Bishop,  p.  22G. 


[1690.]   HAKDSHIPS  AND  BLESSINGS  OF  THE  FIRST  SETTLERS.      437 

Captain  Roger  Clap,  one  of  the  first  planters  of  Dorches- 
ter, the  commander  of  Castle  William  for  twenty  years,  and 
who  bore  several  other  offices  in  the  State  with  honor,  and 
died  in  Boston  in  1691,  in  such  esteem  that  the  whole  Gen- 
eral Assembly  attended  his  funeral,  wrote  some  memorials 
of  those  early  times,  with  his  fatherly  advice  to  his  children. 
And,  observing  that  their  straits  were  sometimes  so  great 
that  the  very  crusts  of  his  father's  table  in  England  would 
have  been  as  a  dainty  in  this  wilderness,  he  says  : — 

I  took  notice  of  it,  as  a  great  favor  of  God  unto  me,  not  only  to  preserve 
my  life,  but  to  give  me  contentedness  in  all  these  straits  ;  insomuch  that  I 
do  not  remember  that  I  ever  wished  in  my  heart  that  I  had  not  come  into 
this  country,  nor  wished  myself  back  again  [to  my  father's  house.]  Yea, 
1  was  so  far  from  that,  that  I  wished  and  advised  some  of  my  dear  breth- 
ren to  come  hither  also  ;  which  accordingly  one  of  my  brothers,  and  those 
who  married  my  two  sisters,  sold  their  means,  and  came  hither.  The  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  was  so  plainly  held  out  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  unto 
poor  lost  sinners,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  new  birth,  and  God's 
Holy  Spirit,  in  those  days,  accompanied  [was  pleased  to  accompany]  the 
word  with  such  efficacy  upon  the  hearts  of  many,  that  our  hearts  were 
taken  off  from  old  England,  and  set  upon  heaven Many  were  con- 
verted, and  others  established  in  believing.  Many  joined  unto  the  several 
churches  where  they  lived,  confessing  their  faith  publicly,  and  showing  be- 
fore all  the  assembly,  their  experiences  of  the  workings  of  God's  spirit  in 
their  hearts,  to  bring  them  to  Christ ;  which  many  hearers  found  very  much 
good  by,  to  help  them  to  try  their  own  hearts,  and  to  consider  how  it  was 

with  them Oh,  the   many  tears  that  have  been  shed  in  Dorchester 

meeting-house  at  such  times,  both  by  those  that  have  declared  God's  work 
on  their  souls,  and  also  by  those  who  heard  them  !  In  those  days  God, 
even  our  own  God,  did  bless  New  England.1 

Another  of  their  captains  who  came  over  in  1630,  says: — 

Those  honored  persons  who  were  now  in  place  of  government,  having 
the  propagation  of  the  churches  of  Christ  in  their  eye,  labored  by  all  means 
to  make  room  for  inhabitants,  knowing  well  that  where  the  carcass  is,  thither 
will  the  eagles  resort.  But  herein  they  were  opposed  by  certain  persons, 
whose  greedy  desire  for  land,  much  hindered  the  work  for  a  time  ;  as  in- 
deed such  persons  do  to  this  day  ;  and  let  such  take  notice  how  these  were 
cured  of  this  distemper.     Some  were  taken   away  by  death,  and  then,  be 

Prince's  Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  70 — 72. 


438  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

sure,  they  had  land  enough.  Others,  fearing  poverty  and  banishment,  sup- 
posing the  present  scarcity  would  never  be  turned  into  plenty,  removed  them- 
selves away,  and  so  never  beheld  the  great  good  the  Lord  hath  done  for  his 
people.  But  the  valiant  of  the  Lord  waited  with  patience,  and  in  the  miss 
of  beer,  supplied  themselves  with  water  ;  even  the  most  honored  as  well  as 
others,  contentedly  rejoicing  in  a  cup  of  cold  water  ;  blessing  the  Lord  that 
had  given  them  to  taste  of  that  living  water,  and  that  they  had  not  the  water 
that  slakes  the  thirst  of  their  natural  bodies  given  them  by  measure,  but 
might  drink  to  the  full ;  as  also  in  the  absence  of  bread,  they  pleased 
[feasted]  themselves  with  fish.  The  women  once  a  day,  as  the  tide  served, 
resorted  to  the  muscles  and  clam-banks,  where  they  daily  gathered  their 
families'  food,  with  much  heavenly  discourse  of  the  provisions  Christ  for- 
merly made  for  many  thousands  of  his  followers  in  the  wilderness.  Quoth 
one,  My  husband  hath  travelled  as  far  as  Plymouth,  [about  forty  mil^] 
and  hath  with  great  toil  brought  a  little  corn  home,  and  before  that  is  spent 
the  Lord  will  assuredly  provide  ;  quoth  the  other,  Our  last  peck  of  meal  is 
in  the  oven  at  home  a-baking,  and  many  of  our  godly  neighbors  have  quite 
spent  all,  and  we  owe  one  loaf  of  that  little  we  have.  Then  spake  a  third, 
My  husband  hath  ventured  himself  among  the  Indians  for  corn,  and  can 
get  none,  as  also  our  honored  Governor  hath  distributed  his  so  far,  that  a 
day  or  two  more  will  put  an  end  to  his  store  and  all  the  rest ;  and  yet,  me- 
thinks  our  children  are  as  cheerful,  fat  and  lusty,  with  feeding  upon  these 
muscles,  clams  [clam-banks]  and  other  fish,  as  they  were  in  Englaud  with 
their  fill  of  bread,  which  makes  me  cheerful  in  the  Lord's  providing  for  us  ; 
being  further  confirmed  by  the  exhortation  of  our  pastor  to  trust  in  the 
Lord,  whose  is  the  earth,  and  the  fullness  thereof.  As  they  were  encour- 
aging one  another  in  Christ's  careful  providing  for  them,  they  lift  up  their 
eyes  and  saw  two  ships  coming  in,  and  presently  this  news  comes  to  their 
ears,  that  they  were  come  from  Ireland  full  of  victuals.1 

Oh !  how  gloriously  do  they  shine,  and  how  manfully  do 
they  talk,  when  exercising  themselves  in  the  gospel  armor, 
to  what  they  do  when  they  come  down  to  the  use  of  earthly 
weapons  in  heavenly  concernments!  In  1645  they  com- 
pared the  Baptists'  opposition  to  such  conduct,  to  what 
Amalek  did  to  Israel  when  they  were  weak.  And  the 
erecting  of  a  small  Baptist  church  in  1665,  was  called  a 

'In  one  of  those  ships  came  Mr.  Roger  Williams.  Johnson,  pp.  48,  49;  Prince's 
Annals,  pp.  18,  47.  [344,  377.]  We  are  told  that  one  of  the  fathers  of  that  day, 
having  dined  with  his  friends  on  clams  without  bread,  devoutly  returned  thanks,  that 
God  had  caused  them  to  suck  of  the  abundance  of  the  sea,  and  of  treasures  hid  in 
the  sand.     Magnalia,  B.  1,  p.  22.   [Vol.  I,  p.  72.] 


[1681.]  MATHER'S  REPLY  TO  RUSSELL.  439 

strong  attempt  against  them  from  the  spirit  of  Anabaptism  ; 
the  permission  of  which  among  them  they  said,  manifestly 
tended  to  the  destruction  of  their  churches,  though  they  had 
above  forty  of  them  then  in  their  colony,  in  joint  communion 
with  about  as  many  more  in  neighboring  colonies.1  And 
in  1781  they  compared  their 'ecclesiastical  establishment  to 
a  small  boat,  and  those  few  illiterate  Baptists  to  the  ballast 
of  a  great  ship,  which  was  like  to  sink  it.  Hence  it  was 
their  weakness,  and  not  their  strength,  that  caused  them  to 
treat  the  Baptists  so  cruelly.  The  extending  of  the  gospel 
ordinance  of  baptism  to  subjects  who  are  in  a  state  of  nature  ; 
limiting  the  church  of  Christ  to  human  schools  for  minis- 
ters, and  compelling  all  to  support  such  and  only  such,  are 
points  which  had  but  a  weak  bottom  to  stand  upon  in  that 
day,  when  the  power  of  godliness  was  so  well  known  in 
the  country.2 

Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  64 . 

2The  seven  foregoing  chapters,  with  an  Appendix  which  will  be  found  at  the  close 
of  this  volume,  constitute  Volume  I  of  the  original  edition.  This  will  explain  the 
character  of  the  last  few  pages ;  and  also,  as  Volume  II  was  not  published  or  writ- 
ten till  several  years  later,  will  explain  certain  differences  of  style  and  method  which 
the  reader  will  notice  in  the  chapters  that  follow,  as  compared  with  those  that  have 
preceded. — Ed. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

A  first  Principle  op  these  Churches. — Of  Witchcraft. — Unjust 
Attempts  to  turn  it  against  the  Baptists. — Oppressive  Laws. 
— Effects  thereof. — Plymouth  Proclamation. — Their  Church 
Order. — Evils  of  denying  it. — First  Ministers  of  Middleborough 
and  Dartmouth — Of  Plympton. 

The  fathers  of  New  England  came  much  nearer  to  the 
apostolic  order  of  the  church,  than  most  other  reformers 
had  done.  Dr.  Cotton  Mather  published  a  specimen  thereof 
in  the  year  1690.  Says  he,  "  A  church  (as  the  Greek  name 
for  it  allows  us  to  think)  is  to  consist  of  a  people  called  out 
from  the  ways  of  sin,  by  the  powerful  and  effectual  work  of 
God  upon  their  souls.  Regeneration  is  the  thing  without 
which  a  title  unto  sacraments  is  not  to  be  pretended.  Real 
regeneration  is  the  thing  which,  before  God,  renders  men 
capable  of  claiming  sacraments  ;  and  visible  and  expressed 
regeneration  is  that  which,  before  men,  enables  us  to  make 
such  a  claim."1  From  the  first  planting  of  the  country  to 
1662,  none  were  allowed  to  come  to  the  ordinance  of  the 
supper,  nor  to  bring  their  infants  to  baptism,  without  such 
a  profession.  The  synod  of  that  year  opened  a  door  for 
the  children  of  church  members  to  bring  their  infants  upon 
a  lower  profession  ;2  though  in  the  Massachusetts  a  profes- 
sion of  regeneration  was  still  held  to  be  necessary,  in  order 
for  coming  to  full  communion,  or  having  a  vote  in  the  gov- 
ernment, either  of  church  or  State.     This  was  essential  to 

'Companion  for  Communicants,  pp.  29,  30,  37.  2See  page  267. — Ed. 


442  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  nature  of  their  plan  of  a  holy  government,  in  imitation 
of  the  church  of  Israel.  And  for  the  church  to  govern  the 
world,  for  good  men  to  govern  bad  ones,  seemed  much  more 
rational  and  scriptural,  than  for  the  world  to  govern  the 
church  about  soul-guides,  as  they  have  done  since.  Previous 
to  this,  the  country  was  involved  in  most  deplorable  circum- 
stances ;  their  charter  lost ;  their  sea  coasts  infested  with 
privateers  and  pirates,  and  their  frontiers  with  savage  ene- 
mies. An  attempt  to  take  Quebec  in  1690,  was  defeated, 
which  enraged  the  enemy  the  more  against  them,  and  also 
involved  the  country  in  a  heavy  debt;  to  discharge  which, 
paper  money  was  first  made  here,  the  effects  whereof  were 
very  pernicious.  Officers  and  people  were  greatly  divided 
in  their  minds  about  the  causes  of  these  calamities,  and 
about  what  was  the  best  way  to  remove  them.  And  in  this 
juncture  they  were  alarmed  with  an  apprehension  that  the 
powers  of  hell  were  let  loose  upon  them,  which  amazed  and 
confounded  them  inexpressibly.  The  scene  was  introduced 
in  the  following  manner  : — 

A  variety  of  books  concerning  witchcraft,  had  been 
published  in  London  and  Boston,  which  were  dispersed  in 
New  England.  And  near  the  close  of  1691,  a  young  daugh- 
ter and  a  neice  of  Mr.  Samuel  Parris,  minister  of  Salem 
Village,  (now  Danvers,)  with  two  other  girls  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, made  such  complaints  of  distress  and  injuries  upon 
their  bodies,  that  a  physician  pronounced  them  bewitched. 
Hereupon  an  Indian  woman  from  New  Spain,  that  lived  at 
the  minister's  house,  tried  some  experiments  to  find  out  the 
witch,  which  she  pretended  to  have  been  used  in  her  own 
country.  This  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  those  children, 
they  accused  her  of  being  the  witch  ;  of  appearing  to  them 
and  pinching,  pricking  and  tormenting  them.  Teachers, 
rulers  and  people,  were  so  much  affected  witli  this  calamity, 
as  to  keep  days  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  its  removal  ;  first 
at  said  ministers  house,  next  in  the  village,  and  then  through 
the  colony.     Such  notice  being  taken  of,  and  pity  shown  to, 


[1691.]  WITCHCRAFT  AND  ITS  PUNISHMENT.  443 

those  children,  they  increased  their  complaints  ;  and  others 
advanced  like  accusations,  not  only  against  the  Indian 
woman,  but  also  against  two  other  old  women  in  the  place, 
so  that  all  the  three  were  committed  to  prison  on  March  1, 
1692.  And  this  noise  increased,  and  such  accusations 
spread,  till  about  an  hundred  persons  were  imprisoned  on 
that  account.  In  the  midst  of  which  distress,  on  May  14, 
Sir  William  Phips,  the  Governor,  arrived  at  Boston  with 
their  new  charter,  in  company  with  Dr.  Increase  Mather, 
who  procured  it.  The  Governor  and  Council  were  so  much 
concerned  to  purge  this  growing  evil  from  the  land,  that 
they  did  not  wait  for  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  to  whom 
the  constituting  of  Courts  of  Justice  belonged,  but  consti- 
tuted one  themselves,  whereof  Lieutenant  Governor  Stough- 
ton  was  President,  and  by  their  sentence  one  woman  was 
hanged  on  June  10  ;  and  by  September  22,  they  executed 
seven  men  and  thirteen  women  ;  after  which  that  Court  was 
dissolved.  And  by  the  time  that  a  Court  of  Oyer  and  Ter- 
miner was  constituted  according  to  charter,  rulers  and  minis- 
ters were  so  far  convinced  that  they  had  acted  upon  wrong 
principles,  and  had  also  admitted  the  testimony  of  accusers 
without  sufficient  care  and  caution,  that  all  the  rest  of  the 
accused  were  either  acquitted  upon  trial,  or  pardoned  by 
authority.  A  first  principle  that  they  acted  upon  in  those 
condemnations  was,  that  God,  in  his  providence,  would  not 
suffer  the  devil  to  appear  to  and  afflict  any  io  the  shape  of 
an  innocent  person.  And  they  admitted  one  accuser  to  one 
instance,  and  another  to  another,  of  those  spectral  appear- 
ances, to  make  up  two  witnesses.  They  also  who  would 
confess  themselves  to  be  witches,  were  admitted  as  witnesses 
against  others.  And,  says  a  gentlemen  who  was  a  careful 
observer  of  those  transactions,  "  These  confessors,  by  their 
plausible  confession  and  accusations  of  others,  begetting 
credit,  have  been  a  great,  if  not  the  greatest  engine  of 
Satan  to  carry  on  the  accusing  and  apprehending  of  others, 
until  this  matter  came  to  such   a  height,  that,  if  it  had  not 


444  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

been  stopped,  might  have  brought  the  best  Christians  in  the 
country  under  the  imputation  of  that  abomination,  and  have 
involved  all  in  confusion  and  blood.1"  Deplorable  indeed 
was  the  case  of  Xew  England  at  that  time  ;  though  we  are 
assured,  by  men  who  have  searched  fully  into  the  matter, 
that  a  greater  number  of  persons  were  executed  for  witch- 
craft in  only  one  county  in  England,  even  in  the  loose  reign 
of  Charles  the  Second,  than  all  that  were  put  to  death  here  ; 
and  also  that  these  executions  were  under  the  influence  of 
laws  and  precedents  from  thence.2  But  this  being  a  new 
country,  it  was  more  taken  notice  of,  and  was  more  severely 
felt  than  there. 

We  cannot  find  that  the  Baptists  had  any  hand  in  those 
confused  and  bloody  proceedings  ;  yet  much  pains  have  been 
taken  to  turn  the  same  against  them.  A  late  minister  of 
Danvers,  the  place  where  those  delusions  began,  says,  "  It 
is  reported  of  witches,  and  those  that  hold  unlawful  com- 
merce with  evil  spirits,  that  in  order  to  their  entering  into 
confederacy  with  them,  they  are  solicited  to  renounce  their 
baptism,  even  though  received  in  infancy ;  which  shews 
that  such  a  renunciation  of  baptism,  which  Dr.  Gill  pleads 
for  and  commends,  is  a  matter  of  great  impiety."3  What 
Dr.  Gill  pleaded  for,  was  the  renouncing  of  infant  sprink- 
ling, and  the  practicing  of  believer's  baptism,  according  to 
primitive  institution.  But  how  far  was  that  from  the  witch- 
craft at  Danvers  or  Salem!  The  plainest  instances  of  any 
mention  of  baptism  therein  were  as  follows.  In  the  exami- 
nation of  a  woman  before  authority,  July  21,  1692,  were 
these  questions  and  answers,  viz. : — 

Question.  Goody  Lacey,  how  many  years  ago  since  they  were  baptized? 
Answer.  Three  or  four  years  ago,  I  suppose.  Q.  Who  baptized  them?  A. 
The  old  serpent.     Q.  How    did  he  d6   it?     A.  He   dipped  their  heads  in 

'A  Modest  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  Witchcraft ;  by  John  Hale,  Minister  of  Bev- 
erly. 1697,  p.  88. 
•Hale,  pp.  25,  86,  69.     Hutchinson,  Vol.11,  pp.  22,  G9.  [22,  00.] 
3Clark  against  Gill,  1752,  p.  33. 


[1692.]         RELATION  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  TO  WITCHCRAFT.  445 

the  water,  saying  they  were  his,  and  that  he  had  power  over  them.  Q. 
Where  was  this  ?  A.  At  Falls  River.  Q.  How  many  were  baptized  that 
day?  Some  of  the  chief,  I  think  there  were  six  baptized.  Q.  Name 
them.     A.  I  think  they  were  of  the  higher  powers. 

Also  Captain  Osgood's  wife,  of  Andover,  was  made  to 
confess,  that  she  with  others,  had  been  carried  through  the 
air  to  a  certain  pond,  where  the  devil  dipped  her  face  in  the 
water,  and  made  her  renounce  her  former  baptism.  But  she 
with  five  others,  in  prison,  gave  in  a  retraction  of  their  con- 
fessions to  the  Court,  wherein  they  declared  that  they  were 
amazed  and  affrighted  out  of  their  reason,  by  some  gentle- 
men who  told  them  they  knew  they  were  witches,  and  there- 
fore they  assented  to  what  was  suggested  to  them,  as  the 
only  way  they  had  left  to  save  their  lives ;  but  when  they 
came  to  be  better  composed,  they  professed  that  they  were 
innocent  and  ignorant  of  such  things.  And  fifty-three  of 
their  neighbors  gave  in  a  written  testimony  to  the  Court, 
that  they  believed  this  to  be  an  honest  retraction ;  one  of 
whom  was  Dudley  Bradstreet,  Esq.  Mr.  Parris  and  other 
ministers  were  very  officious  in  those  examinations  of  per- 
sons accused  of  witchcraft  j1  and  sixty  years  after,  Mr. 
Clark  must  bring  up  the  same,  to  prove  that  "  renouncing 
of  his  early  dedication  must  appear  such  an  instance  of 
impiety,  as  to  a  considerate  person  were  enough  to  put  astop^ 
to  his  proceedings,  how  inclinable  soever  he  might  be  to 
those  principles  on  other  accounts."2  Such  methods  have 
they  taken  to  frighten  people  from  seeing  with  their  own 
eyes,  and  from  acting  according  to  their  own  judgments,  in 
the  great  concerns  of  the  soul  and  eternity. 

The  second  Massachusetts  charter,  which  was  dated 
October  7,  1691,  allowed  equal  liberty  of  conscience  to  all 
Christians,  except  Papists.  The  first  General  Court  under 
it  met  at  Boston,  June  9,  1692,  to  which  Dr.  Cotton  Mather 
delivered  a  sermon,  wherein  he  said,  "  The  civil  Magistrate 

Hutchinson's  History,  Vol.  II,  pp.  31,  36,  40—44.  [31,  35,  39,  43,  44.] 
"Against  Gill,  p.  33. 


446  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

is  most  properly  the  officer  of  human  society,  and  a  Chris- 
tian, by  non-conformity  to  this  or  that  imposed  way  of  wor- 
ship, does  not  break  the  terms  on  which  he  is  to  enjoy  the 
benefits  of  human  society."  And  ten  years  after,  he  pub- 
lished this  and  other  passages,  in  his  history  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  said  he  would  thereby  stop  the  noise  about  perse- 
cution therein.  aBut  how  could  that  be  done  ?  for  he  said, 
"  The  General  Assembly  may,  by  their  acts,  give  a  distin- 
guishing encouragement  unto  the  religion  which  is  the  gene- 
ral profession  of  the  inhabitants;"2  that  is,  may  empower 
some  to  judge  for  others  about  worship,  and  to  enforce  their 
judgments  with  the  sword ;  which  is  the  root  of  the  worst 
persecutions  in  the  world.  He  knew  that  such  acts  as  he 
spoke  of  could  not  take  place  here  without  the  royal  assent ; 
yet  said  he,  "I  am  verily  persuaded, that  the  nearness  of  our 
dependence  on  the  crown  will  be  found  one  of  our  most 
glorious  advantages."  His  reason  therefor  is,  its  giving 
them  a  greater  security  in  future  shaking  times.  But  expe- 
rience has  now  demonstrated,  that  it  is  better  to  trust  in  the 
Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  princes.  He,  in  that  ser- 
mon, called  Cambridge  College  CiA  river,  the  streams  whereof 
made  glad  the  city  of  God ;  "3  which  method  of  applying 
those  words  of  divine  revelation  to  human  schools,  is  doubt- 
•  less  a  perverting  of  them ;  and  is  a  way  which  has  done 
much  hurt  to  mankind.  Christians  are  required  to  withdraw 
from  such  as  suppose  that  gain  is  godliness  ;  yet  now  a  free- 
hold worth  forty  shillings  a  year,  or  other  estate  worth  fifty 
pounds  (which  was  soon  after  reduced  to  forty)  gave  every 
inhabitant  a  right  to  vote  for  legislators  ;  and  an  Assembly 
so  elected,  in  their  session  at  Boston,  October  12,  1692, 
enacted : — 

That  the  inhabitants  of  each  town  within  this  Province  shall  take  due 
care,  from  time  to  time,  to  be  constantly  provided  of  an  able,  learned  and 
orthodox  minister  or  ministers,  of  good  conversation,  to  dispense  the  word 

Wagnalia,  B.  7,  p.  28,  29.  [Vol.  II,  p.  462.] 

'Account  of  his  father's  life,  p.  141.  3Seriuon,  pp.  57,  6G,  87. 


[1692.]  AN  ACT  FOR  THE  SUPPORT  OF  MINISTERS.  447 

of  God  to  them  ;  which  minister  or  ministers  shall  be  suitably  encouraged, 
and  sufficiently  supported  and  maintained  by  the  inhabitants  of  such  town. 
And  all  contracts,  agreements  and  orders,  heretofore  made,  or  that  shall 
hereafter  be  made,  by  the  inhabitants  of  any  town  within  this  Province, 
respecting  their  ministers  or  school-masters  as  to  their  settlement  or  main- 
tenance, shall  remain  good  and  valid,  according  to  the  true  intent  thereof, 
the  whole  time  for  which  they  were  or  shall  be  made,  in  all  the  particulars 
thereof,  and  shall  accordingly  be  pursued,  put  in  execution,  and  fulfilled. 
And  where  there  is  no  contract  and  agreement  made  in  any  town,  respect- 
ing the  support  and  maintenance  of  the  ministry,  or  when  the  same  hap- 
pens to  be  expired,  and  the  inhabitants  of  such  town  shall  neglect  to  make 
suitable  provision  therein,  upon  complaint  thereof  made  unto  the  Quarter 
Sessions  of  the  Peace  for  the  county  where  such  town  lies,  the  said  Court 
shall,  and  hereby  are  empowered  to,  order  a  competent  allowance  unto  such 
minister,  according  to  the  estate  and  ability  of  the  town,  the  same  to  be 
assessed  upon  the  inhabitants,  by  warrant  from  the  Court,  directed  to  the 
Select  Men,  who  are  thereupon  to  proceed  to  make  and  apportion  said 
assessment,  in  manner  as  is  directed  for  other  public  charges,  and  to  cause 
the  same  to  be  levied  by  the  constables  of  such  town,  by  warrant  under 
the  hands  of  the  Select  Men  or  of  the  town  clerk  by  their  order. 

Be  it  further  enacted,  that  where  any  town  shall  be  destitute  of  a  minis- 
ter qualified  as  aforesaid,  and  shall  so  continue  by  the  space  of  six  months, 
not  having  taken  due  care  for  the  procuring,  settling  and  encouragement  of 
such  a  minister,  the  same  being  made  to  appear  upon  complaint  unto  their 
Majesty's  Justices  of  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  of  the  county,  the 
said  Court  shall,  and  hereby  are  empowered  to,  make  an  order  upon  every 
such  defective  town,  speedily  to  provide  themselves  of  such  a  minister  as 
aforesaid,  by  the  next  sessions  at  the  furthest ;  and  in  case  such  order  be 
not  complied  with,  then  the  said  Court  shall  take  effectual  care  to  procure 
and  settle  a  minister  qualified  as  aforesaid,  and  order  the  charge  thereof, 
and  of  such  minister's  maintenance,  to  be  levied  on  the  inhabitants  of  such 
town. 

And  it  is  further  enacted,  that  the  respective  churches,  in  the  several 
towns  within  this  Province,  shall  at  all  times  hereafter  use,  exercise  and 
enjoy,  all  their  privileges  and  freedoms  respecting  divine  worship,  church 
order  and  discipline  ;  and  shall  be  encouraged  in  the  peaceable  and  regular 
profession  and  practice  thereof. 

And  further  it  is  enacted,  that  every  minister,  being  a  person  of  good 
conversation,  able,  learned  and  orthodox,  that  shall  be  chosen  by  the  major 
part  of  the  inhabitants  of  any  town,  at  a  town-meeting  duly  warned  for  that 
purpose,  (notice  being  given  to  the  inhabitants  fifteen  days  before  the  time 
of  such  meeting)  shall  be  the  minister  of  such  town  ;  and  the  whole  town 
shall  be  obliged  to  pay  towards  his  settlement  and  maintenance,  each  man 
his  several  proportion  thereof. 


448  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

They  had  here  entered  upon  a  new  and  untried  scene  ; 
and  the  glaring  contradiction  betwixt  the  last  two  paragraphs 
of  this  law,  with  their  finding  that  some  towns  had  more 
than  one  church  therein,  as  also  that  Boston  would  not  sub- 
mit to  it,  caused  the  Assembly,  in  their  next  session  of  Feb- 
ruary 3,  1693,  to  repeal  those  two  paragraphs,  and  in  addi- 
tion to  the  rest  of  that  law  to  enact,  "that  each  respective 
gathered  church,  in  any  town  or  place  within  this  Province, 
that  at  any  time  shall  be  in  want  of  a  minister,  such  church 
shall  have  power,  according  to  the  directions  given  in  the 
word  of  God,  to  choose  their  own  minister ;"  yet  not  to  set- 
tle him  without  the  concurrence  of  the  majority  of  voters  in 
town  affairs,  who  usually  meet  therewith  for  worship  ;  but 
that  being  obtained,  then  "all  the  inhabitants  and  ratable 
estates  lying  within  such  town,  or  part  of  a  town,  or  place 
limited  by  law  for  upholding  the  public  worship  of  God, 
shall  be  obliged  to  pay  in  proportion  towards  the  minister's 
settlement  and  support;  provided,  that  nothing  herein  con- 
tained is  intended,  or  shall  be  construed  to  extend,  to  abridge 
the  inhabitants  of  Boston  of  their  accustomed  way  and  prac- 
tice, as  to  the  choice  and  maintenance  of  their  ministers." 

Here  it  is  to  be  noted,  that  like  causes  may  ever  be  ex- 
pected to  produce  like  effects.  One  of  our  most  essential 
rights  is  that  we  shall  not  be  taxed  where  we  are  not  repre- 
sented. And  it  is  most  certain,  that  a  civil  legislature  are 
not  our  religious  representatives  ;  and  in  order  then  to  tax 
the  country  to  religious  teachers,  they  were  abridged  of  the 
rights  which  Boston  would  not  part  with.  So  when  Gov- 
ernor Hutchinson  was  pursuing  the  scheme,  in  1769,  of  hav- 
ing America  taxed  by  Britain,  he  said,  "there  must  be  an 
abridgment  of  what  are  called  English  liberties."  But  the 
bloody  effects  of  that  attempt,  are  a  loud  warning  to  all  after 
ages.  The  Assembly  went  on.  in  said  law,  to  empower  the 
ratable  inhabitants  of  any  town  where  no  church  was  gath- 
ered, to  call  and  settle  a  minister,  by  the  advice  and  direc- 
tion of  three  neighboring  ordained  ministers,  who  should  be 
supported  as  others  were  ;  and  also   to  enact,  that  if  any 


[1693.]  ATTEMPTED  COMPULSION  IN  SWANZEY.  449 

town  or  place  neglected  to  obey  these  laws,  their  Select-men, 
or  other  officers,  should  be  con  vented  before  their  county 
Court,  and,  upon  conviction  of  such  neglect,  be  fined  forty 
shillings  for  the  first  offence,  and  four  pounds  for  every  after 
conviction.  As  a  fruit  of  which,  a  warrant  was  sent  from 
Bristol  Court,  "  requiring  the  town  of  Swanzey  to  choose  a 
minister  according  to  law."  The  town  met  upon  it  August 
28,  and  adjourned  to  October  17,  1693,  when  they  concluded 
to  report  to  the  Court,  that  Elder  Samuel  Luther  was  their 
minister.1  He  was  ordained  pastor  of  the  first  church  there, 
July  22,  1685,  by  the  assistance  of  the  Elders  Hull  and 
Emblen,  of  Boston.  And  the  rulers  of  Plymouth  Colony 
had  publicly  owned  him  in  that  office ;  one  instance  where- 
of take  as  follows  : — 

At  a  Court  cf  Assistants  held  at  Plymouth,  the  first  Tuesday  of  August, 
1690,  it  being  manifest  that  the  Lord  our  God  calls  his  poor  people  in 
this  wilderness  to  great  humiliation  and  mourning,  for  those  awful  tokens 
of  his  displeasure  that  are  upon  us,  and  our  manifold  sins,  the  procuring 
cause  thereof,  the  Governor  and  Council  do  therefore  commend  it  to  all 
the  churches  of  God  and  people  in  this  Colony,  to  set  apart  and  observe 
the  last  day  of  this  instant  as  a  day  of  solemn  fasting  and  prayer,  wherein 
to  deprecate  those  heavy  judgments  impending,  and  to  entreat  the  Lord  to 
take  away  all  our  iniquities,  and  receive  us  graciously  :  particularly  that 
God  would  prosper  the  Agents  of  the  country  in  their  weighty  negotiation 
in  the  other  England  ;  that  our  address  may  be  accepted  with  our  lord  the 
king,  and  we  may  have  a  settled  establishment  of  our  ancient  liberties 
and  privileges,  sacred  and  civil ;  that  God  would  callback  the  commission 
he  hath  given  to  the  sword  of  the  enemy  to  be  drawn  among  us,  and  direct 
and  manage  all  the  counsels  of  his  servants  in  this  dark  and  difficult  day 
of  war,  and  give  success  in  the  destruction  of  our  adversaries,  and  restore 
peace  to  us  ;  that  contagious  and  afflictive  .distresses  maybe  removed  ;  that 
the  necessities  of  the  poor  may  be  supplied,  and  the  judgment  of  scarcity 
and  famine  prevented  ;  and  that  God  would  bless  the  labors  of  our  hands, 
and  give  both  seed-time  and  harvest ;  and  that,  in  a  way  of  humiliation 
and  reformation,  we  may  be  prepared  to  meet  God,  and  wait  for  him  in 
the  way  of  his  judgments,  and  that  mercy  may  be  the  latter  end  of  all  his 
dispensations  to  us. 

Per  order  of  the  above-said  Court,  Samuel  Spragde,  Recorder. 

To  Samuel  Luther,  Elder  of  the  church  of  Swanzey,  for  him  to  communi- 
cate to  the  church  and  congregation  there. 

'Swanzey  Town  Kecords. 
29 


450  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

This  I  carefully  copied  from  the  original  preserved  in 
Elder  Luther's  family  ;  and  Bristol  Court  could  not  be  igno- 
rant of  his  being  thus  owned  as  the  settled  minister  of 
Swanzey ;  yet  this  attempt  must  be  made  for  the  other 
denomination,  though  they  have  never  been  able  to  set  up 
their  worship  in  that  town  to  this  day.  A  second  Baptist 
church  was  formed  therein,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Barnes  was 
ordained  pastor  of  it  in  1693.  It  may  be  serviceable  to 
enquire  into  the  reason  of  their  being  so  much  better  treated 
when  under  Plymouth  government,  than  they  were  after  they 
were  incorporated  with  the  Massachusetts. 

Plymouth  people  were  taught  in  Holland,  that  the  church 
was  the  school  wherein  Christ  trained  up  his  ministers  ; 
though  they  were  far  from  despising  human  learning  in  its 
place.  One  of  their  proofs  was  the  14th  chapter  of  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  ;  upon  which  their  learned 
pastor,  Mr.  Robinson,  made  the  following  remarks.  Says 
he:— 

That  the  apostle  in  this  chapter  directs  the  church  in  the  use  of  extraor- 
dinary gifts,  is  most  evident.  Neither  will  I  deny  but  that  the  oflicers  are 
to  guide  and  order  this  action  of  prophesying,  as  all  other  public  business, 
[businesses]  yea,  even  these  wherein  the  brethren  have  greatest  liberty  : 
But  that  he  intends  the  establishing  of,  and  so  takes  order,  and  gives  direc- 
tion for  an  ordinary,  constant  exercise  in  the  church,  even  by  men  out  of 
office,  I  do  manifest  by  these  reasons.  (1.)  Because  the  apostle  speaks  of 
the  ministration  of  a  gift  or  grace,  common  to  all  persons,  as  well  brethren 
as  ministers,  ordinary  as  extraordinary,  and  that  at  all  times,  which  is 
love;  as  also  of  such  fruits  and  effects  of  that  grace,  as  are  no  less  com- 
mon to  all  than  the  grace  itself,  nor  of  less  continuance  in  the  churches  of 
Christ,  to  wit,  of  edification,  exhortation  and  comfort ;  verse  3,  compared 
with  I  Thes.  v.  11,  14.  (2.)  In  verse  24  he  permits  all  to  prophesy,  and 
speaks  as  largely  of  prophesying  as  of  learning,  and  receiving  comfort. 
But  lest  any  should  object,  May  women  also*  prophesy?  the  apostle  pre- 
vents that  objection,  and  it  may  be  reproves  that  disorder  amongst  the  Cor- 
inthians, ver.  34,  by  a  flat  inhibition,  enjoining  them  expressly  to  keep 
silence  in  the  church,  in  the  presence  of  men,  to  whom  they  ought  to  be 
subject,  and  to  learn  at  home  of  their  husbands,  [ver.  35,]  and  not,  by 
teaching  [the]  men,  to  usurp  authority  over  them;  1  Tim.  ii.  11,12; 
which  men  in  prophesying,  do  lawfully  use.      (3.)   Now  ....  in  that  Paul 


[1693.]  ROBINSON'S  TEACHING  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  451 

forbids  women,  he  gives  liberty  to  all  men,  gifted  accordingly,  opposing 
women  to  men,  sex  to  sex,  and  not  women  to  officers,  which  were  frivolous. 
And  agaiD,  in  restraining  women,  he  shews  his  meaning  to  be  of  ordinary, 
not  extraordinary  prophesying ;  for  women  immediately  and  extraordina- 
rily [and  miraculously]  inspired  might  speak  without  restraint ;  Exod.  xv. 
20;  Judg.  iv.  4  ;  Luke  ii.  36  ;  [Acts  xxi.  9].  (4.)  The  prophets  here 
spoken  of  were  not  extraordinary,  because  their  doctrines  were  to  be 
judged  by  other  prophets,  and  their  spirits  to  be  subject  unto  the  spirits  of 
others  ;  ver.  29,  32  ;  whereas  the  doctrines  of  the  extraordinary  prophets 
were  neither  subject  to  nor  to  be  judged  by  any  ;  but  they,  as  the  apostles, 
being  immediately  [and  infallibly]  inspired,  were  the  foundation  upon  which 
the  church  was  built,  Jesus  Christ  himself,  being  the  chief  corner  stone  ; 
Eph.  ii.  20,  and  iii.  5.  (5.)  The  apostle  [ver.  37]  makes  a  prophet  and  a 
man  spiritual  all  one,  whom  he  further  describes,  not  by  any  extraordinary 
gift,  but  by  that  common  Christian  grace  of  submission  unto  the  things  he 
writes,  as  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  :  unto  whom  he  opposeth  a  man 
wilfully  ignorant,  ver.  37,  38,  teaching  us,  that  he  doth  not  measure  a  pro- 
phet, in  this  place,  either  by  the  office  of  ministry,  or  by  any  extraordinary 
prophetical  gift,  but  by  the  common  Christian  gift  of  spiritual  discerning. 
(6.)  It  is  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  by  the  apostle,  that  a  bishop  must 
be  apt  to  teach,  and  that  such  elders  or  bishops  be  called  as  are  able  to 
exhort  with  sound  doctrine,  and  to  convince  the  gainsayers.  Now,  except 
men,  before  they  be  in  office,  may  be  permitted  to  manifest  their  gifts,  in 
doctrine  and  prayer,  [Tit.  i.  9  ;  Acts  vi.  4,]  which  are  the  two  main 
works  requiring  special  qualification  in  the  teaching  elders,  how  shall  the 
church  (which  is  to  choose  them)  take  knowledge  of  their  sufficiency,  that 
with  faith  and  good  conscience  they  may  call  them,  and  submit  unto  them 
for  their  guides?1 

Now,  as  the  church  of  Plymouth  had  always  acted  upon 
these  principles,  it  was  easy  for  them  to  look  upon  Elder 
Luther  as  a  minister  of  Christ,  whose  church  was  of  the 
same  mind  about  that  point  of  gospel  order.  But  a  minis- 
ter of  chief  note  among  the  Massachusetts  says  : — 

That  custom,  of  the  prophesying  of  private  brethren,  was  not  observed 
in  any  of  the  churches  of  New  England  besides  themselves  ;  the  ministers 
of  the  respective  churches  there  not  being  so  well  satisfied  in  the  way  there- 
of as  Mr.  Robinson  was.  The  most  judicious  and  leading  elders  among 
said  churches,  as  Mr.  Cotton,  &c,  that  were  not  absolutely  against  the 
thing,  were  yet  afraid  that  the  wantonness  of  the  present   age  would  not 

'Robinson  against  Bernard,  pp.  236,  237.  [Works  of  John  Robinson,  Congrega- 
tional Board,  London,  1851 ;  Vol.  II,  pp.  247—249.] 


452  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

well  bear  such  a  liberty  as  that  great  light  of  these  churches  expressed,  to 
a  person  of  great  quality,  to  whom  he  bore  no  small  respect,  a  few  hours 
before  he  departed  this  life.1' 

Mr.  Robinson  says  : — 

It  is  apparent,  both  in  the  Scriptures  and  ecclesiastical  writers,  that  not 
only  pride  and  contention,  but  heresy,  and  almost  all  other  evils,  have 
sprung  from  the  officers  and  governors  of  the  church.  And  surely  nothing 
hath  more  in  former  days  advanced,  nor  doth  it  this  day  more  uphold  the 
throne  of  antichrist,  than  the  people's  discharging  themselves  of  the  care 
of  public  affairs  iu  the  church,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  priests  and  prelates 
arrogating  all  to  themselves  on  the  other.2 

Two  brethren  of  Plymouth  church  were  ordained  pastors 
of  other  churches  in  1694.  One  of  them  was  Mr.  Jona- 
than Donham,  who  was  ordained  at  Edgarton,  on  Martha's 
Vineyard.  The  other  was  at  Middleborough,  fourteen  miles 
west  of  Plymouth.  About  sixteen  families  began  to  plant 
here  a  little  before  Philip's  war  ;  who  moved  away  when  the 
war  broke  out,  and  returned  again  after  it  was  over  ;  and  Mr. 
Samuel  Fuller  preached  to  them  till  a  church  was  constituted 
among  them  this  year,  and  he  was  ordained  their  pastor. 
The  settlement  of  Dartmouth  began  about  the  same .  time 
with  Middleborough,  and  their  first  teacher  was  also  from 
Plymouth,  but  not  in  the  same  way.  His  name  was  John 
Cooke.  He  was  a  deacon  in  Plymouth  church  for  some 
years  ;  but  was  cast  out  of  it  in  the  latter  part  of  Mr.  Itey- 
ner's  ministry  there,  who  left  them  in  November,  1654.  It 
is  said  that  Cooke  was  excommunicated  for  having  been  the 
author  of  much  dissension  and  division,  and  for  afterwards 
running  into  sectarian  and  anabaptistical  principles  ;  and 
also  that  llcyncr's  removal  was  partly  occasioned  by  the  un- 
settledness  of  the  church,  too  many  of  the  members  being 
leavened  with  prejudices  against  a  learned  ministry,  by  means 
of  sectaries  then  spreading  through  the  land.3     Some  light 

'Hubbard,  [pp,  65,  66.] 

'Robinson,  p.  204.   [Works  of  .Tolin  Robinson,  Vol.  II,  p.  213.] 
'Plymouth  Register,  pp.  4.12.  [Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV,  pp. 
Ill,  118.] 


[1G95.]  AFFAIRS  IN  THE  CHURCH  AT  PLYMOUTH.  453 

concerning  them  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  facts. 
Plymouth  church  took  much  pains  to  obtain  learned  pastors, 
if  they  were  otherwise  well  qualified ;  but  they  refused  to 
be  confined  to  human  schools  for  ministers,  or  to  compel  the 
world  to  support  them.  They  labored  hard  to  get  the  learned 
Mr.  Charles  Chauncy  to  settle  as  a  colleague  with  Mr.  Rey- 
9ner ;  but  Mr.  Chauncy  could  not  consent  to  it,  because  gos- 
pel baptism  appeared  to  him  to  be  dipping,  and  that  sprink- 
ling for  baptism  wras  unlawful,  as  their  church  records  wit- 
ness. In  1650  a  separation  commenced  at  Rehoboth,  because 
Mr.  Newman,  their  minister,  with  six  others,  assumed  all  the 
power  of  church  government  to  themselves,  under  the  name 
of  "  The  church  representative."1  For  this  usurpation  a 
number  of  the  church  withdrew,  and  set  up  worship  by 
themselves ;  and  the  ministers  tried  hard  to  move  Plymouth 
Court  to  suppress  them  by  force,  but  could  not  prevail  there- 
in. These  people  soon  after  became  Baptists  ;  and  one  of 
them  was  most  shamefully  and  cruelly  persecuted  the  next 
year  at  Boston.2  By  searching  into  these  matters,  Mr.  Dun- 
star,  President  of  Harvard  College,  was  brought  openly  to 
renounce  infant  baptism  ;  and  seeing  the  temper  which  was 
discovered  in  the  Massachusetts,  he  removed  into  Plymouth 
Colony,  the  very  year  that  Reyner  moved  out  of  it ;  as  sev- 
eral other  ministers  also  did  about  that  time,  because  they 
could  not  bring  Plymouth  rulers  into  the  use  of  tax  and  com- 
pulsion for  their  support.3  And  though  Reyner  excommu- 
nicated Cooke,  yet,  not  being  able  to  bring  the  church  into 
all  his  measures,  he  left  them,  and  robbed  them  of  their 
church  records,  which  they  never  recovered  ;  so  that  what 
records  Plymouth  church  now  has,  were  afterwards  collected 
from  memory  and  private  writings.  These  facts  may  help 
the  reader  in  forming  a  judgment  of  what  Cooke's  sectarian 

'Clarke's  Narrative,  p.  24.   [Massachusetts  Historical  Collection,  Fourth  Series, 
Vol.  II,  p.  54.]— B. 

See  also  pages  176,  177,  204.— Ed.  2See  page  192.— Ed. 

3See  pages  227—229,  256. 


454  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

principles  were,  and  also  how  he  came  by  them.  His  pos- 
terity inform  me,  that  he  was  a  Baptist,  and  that  he  preached 
the  doctrine  of  election,  with  the  other  doctrines  of  sover- 
eign grace,  in  Dartmouth  for  a  number  of  years.  And  it 
appears  by  Mr.  Samuel  Hubbard's  letters,  that  a  Baptist 
church  was  formed  upon  the  west  borders  of  Dartmouth,  in 
the  year  1685,  wherein  Hugh  Mosier  and  Aaron  Davis  were* 
principal  leaders  ;  which  church  is  continued  by  succession 
to  this  day  ;  though  the  Quakers  are  the  most  numerous  of 
any  one  sect  in  that  town.1 

On  August  24,  1695,  the  church  of  Middleborough  was 
bereaved  of  their  beloved  pastor,  aged  66  ;  "a  great  loss  to 
the  place,"  said  Mr.  Cotton,  "  he  being  a  sincere,  godly  man, 
and  useful  preacher/'  Mr.  Isaac  Cushman,  another  mem- 
ber of  Plymouth  church,  was  invited  to  succeed  him  ;  but 
having  a  call  at  Plympton  (betwixt  here  and  Plymouth)  at 
the  same  time,  he  accepted  it ;  and  was  ordained  there  in 
1698  f  and  was  continued  a  great  blessing  to  them  for  about 

l"  Next  to  the  Friends  in  numbers  and  influence,  stood  the  Baptists.  John  Cooke, 
whose  name  we  meet  with  on  the  first  and  on  nearly  every  page  of  the  early  records 
of  the  town,  as  a  deputy  and  a  select-man,  filling  various  offices  of  trust  and  honor, 
was  a  Baptist  minister  for  many  years.  But  this  same  town  official,  October  29, 
1670,  was  fined  ten  shillings  •  for  breaking  the  Sabbath  by  unnecessary  travel  there- 
on.' If  the  record  of  the  case  had  been  preserved,  it  would  have  appeared,  we 
think,  that  Elder  John  Cooke  was  not  a  Sabbath  breaker,  but  travelling  upon  his 
circuit  as  a  Baptist  preacher."  Old  Dartmouth  Centennial,  p.  86.  Backus  says  in 
his  Abridgment,  page  135,  "  Cooke  was  a  Baptist  minister  in  Dartmouth  many  years, 
from  whence  sprung  the  Baptist  church  in  the  east  borders  of  Tiverton."  Benedict 
says  of  this  church  in  Tiverton,  that  it  "was  formed  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Dart- 
mouth about  1685 ;  the  members  at  first  lived  in  Dartmouth,  Tiverton  and  Little 
Compton.  Their  first  minister  was  Hugh  Mosier,  and  next  to  him  Aaron  Davis. 
This  was  the  seventh  Baptist  church  formed  on  the  American  continent.  In  process 
of  time,  its  seat  was  removed  from  Dartmouth  to  Tiverton,  where  it  continues  to 
the  present  day."  History  of  the  Baptists,  Vol.  I,  p.  503.  The  church  will  be  sub- 
sequently noticed  in  this  work,  as  the  First  Baptist  church  in  Tiverton,  B.  I.  —  Ed. 

2Mr.  John  Cotton,  above  referred  to.  was  son  to  the  famous  minister  of  that  name 
in  Boston.  He  was  minister  at  Plymouth  about  thirty  years,  till  contentions  about 
the  above  points  of  church  order  occasioned  his  dismission,  by  advice  of  a  council 
in  161)7;  and  the  next  year  he  went  and  gathered  a  Congregational  church  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  he  died,  much  lamented,  September  18,  1699. 
Plymouth  Register,  pp.  21.  22.  [Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV,  pp. 
127,  128.] 


[1695.]  LAW  ON  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  MINISTERS.  455 

forty  years.  But  thirteen  ministers,  in  and  near  Boston, 
published  a  letter  of  advice  to  the  churches,  dated  Decem- 
ber 28, 1699,  in  the  eighth  page  of  which  they  represent  it  to 
be  a  Jesuitical  principle  for  any  to  hold,  "that  illiterate  men 
may  be  serviceable  and  admirable  preachers."  This  with 
other  things  moved  their  churches  to  look  only  to  colleges 
for  ministers  for  a  long  time  after.  In  the  meanwhile,  as 
the  empowering  the  world  to  control  the  church  in  the 
choice  of  pastors  was  an  untried  path  to  them,  it  took  them 
three  years  to  find  out  what  to  do,  when  a  parish  did  not 
concur  with  the  church  therein.  But  when  the  Assembly 
met  at  Boston,  May  29,  1695,  they  enacted,  that  in  such  a 
case  the  church  should  call  a  council  of  three  or  five  neigh- 
boring churches,  who  should  decide  the  controversy  thus : 
If  the  council  approved  of  the  person  elected,  the  parish 
must  submit  and  support  him,  if  not,  then  the  church  must 
give  up  their  choice,  and  call  another  minister ;  and  in  this 
method  they  have  proceeded  ever  since.  And  it  may  be  ser- 
viceable to  hear  the  judgment  of  a  number  of  their  most 
eminent  men,  about  the  state  of  religion  in  New  England  in 
those  times. 


CHAPTER     IX. 


Declensions  described  and  lamented,  by  Mr.  Prince. — Willard  and 

torrey. mltchel. mather. wlllard. —  stoddard's    errors. 

Episcopal  Society  Incorporated. — Arbitrary  Laws  and  Propo^ 
sals. — Quakers'  Attempts  against  them. — Some  Revival,  and  some 
Baptist  Letters. — Other  Churches  corrupted. — And  Enslaved, — 
Opposition  thereto  at  Norwich. — A  few  Things  concerning  the 
Baptists. 


The  learned  and  pious  Mr.  Thomas  Prince,  says  : — 

,  The  second  generation  rising  and  growing  thick  on  the  stage,  a  little 
after  1660  there  began  to  appear  a  decay,  and  this  increased  to  1670,  when 
it  grew  [very]  visible  and  threatening,  and  was  generally  complained  of  and 
bewailed  bitterly  by  the  pious  among  them  ;  and  yet  much  more  to  1680, 
when  but  few  of  the  first  generation  remained. 

One  of  his  proofs  hereof  is  what  Mr.  William  Stoughton 
delivered  in  an  Election  Sermon  at  Boston,  April  29,  1668  ; 
when  he  said: — 

The  death  and  removal  of  the  Lord's  eminent  servants  in  one  rank  and 
in  another,  hath  manifested  the  lie  in  many  of  us.  Whilst  they  lived,  their 
piety  and  zeal,  their  light  and  life,  their  counsels  and  authority,  their  exam- 
ples and  awe,  kept  us  right,  and  drew  us  on  in  the  ways  of  God,  to  profess 
and  practice  the  best  things.  But  now  [that]  they  are  [dead  and]  gone, 
ah  !  how  doth  the  unsoundness,  the  rottenness  and  hypocrisy  of  too  many 
among  us  make  itself  known,  as  it  was  with  Joash  after  the  death  of 
Jehoiada.  I1 

Other  of  his  proofs  are  in  pages  320,  321. 

'Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  94,  95.  In  1671,  Mr.  Stoughton  was  elected  into 
the  Council,  and  he  died  there,  Lieutenant  Governor  in  1702. 


458  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  1680,  Mr.  Willard  said:— 

Be  sure,  when  the  glory  of  God  and  the  spiritual  good  of  your  brother 
requires  it,  that  you  carry  on  your  reproofs  to  conviction.  There  are  some 
things  that  arise  only  from  sudden  passion,  and  there  a  transient  rebuke 
may  be  enough  ;  other  things  may  be  [more]  deliberate,  and  men  are  led 
into  them  more  gradually  ;  they  may  also  be  eminently  reproachful  to  relig- 
ion, and  a  dangerous  snare  to  the  souls  of  them  that  are  [so]  tempted ; 
our  connivance  in  such  cases  may  not  only  blemish  our  profession,  but  be  a 
great  hazard  to  it  also.  At  such  times,  and  in  such  [a]  case,  you  break  your 
covenant  if  you  suffer  sin  in  your  brother,  without  using  all  the  means 
which  Christ  hath  prescribed,  and  in  the  order  he  hath  prescribed  them,  till 
the  end  be  obtained.  If  private  admonition,  followed  with  gentleness  and 
patience  will  not  gain,  but  they  still  persist  in  evil  courses,  or  are  not  hum- 
bled for  such  faults,  you  must  proceed  by  steps  as  far  as  Christ  hath  bid 
you.  And  I  believe  there  is  no  one  thing  wherein  the  covenant  is  more 
universally  broken,  than  in  the  neglect  of  this  duty  ;  and  if  the  use  of  these 
ordinances  shall  once  come  to  cease  among  the  churches,  and  the  sins  of 
church  members  be  not  regularly  suppressed,  by  reason  of  the  unfaithful- 
ness of  brethren,  religion  will  languish,  and  the  power  of  godliness  fail. 
It  is  not  the  extending  of  the  covenant  to  Christians,  (as  some  dream)  but 
[it  is]  the  neglect  of  covenant  duties  towards  them,  that  is  like  to  be  the 
bane  of  our  profession,  if  any  thing.  Eli  indulged  his  sons,  and  one  pro^ 
fessor  indulgeth  another ;  and  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  if  this  were  searched 
to  the  [root  and]  bottom  [of  it,]  it  would  be  found  that  the  original  of  it 
is  self-indulgence,  and  that  when  men  wink  at  scaudals  in  their  brethren, 
it  is  because  they  expect  the  like  in  way  of  retaliation.  And  if  thiugs 
once  come  to  this  pass,  let  any  sober  and  prudent  man  conjecture  whether 
this  be  not  the  way  to  cherish  apostasy.1 

Dr.  Increase  Mather,  in  the  Preface,  gave  a  special  rec- 
ommendation of  this  passage.  Three  years  after,  another 
of  their  fathers,  who  was  minister  at  Weymouth,  delivered 
a  sermon  before  their  Legislature,  which  he  called  "  A  plea 
for  the  life  of  dying  religion  ;"  wherein  he  said  : — 

There  is  already  a  great  death  upon  religion,  little  more  left  than  a  name 

to  live Consider  we  then  how  much  it  is  dying  respecting  the  [very] 

being  of  it,  by  the  geueral  failure  of  the  work  of  conversion,  whereby 
only  it  is  that  religion  is  propagated,  continued  and  upheld  in  being,  among 
any  people.  As  converting  work  doth  cease,  so  doth  religion  die  away  ; 
though  more  insensibly,  yet  most  irrecoverably How  much  is  it  dying, 

'Willard  on  Covenant-keeping,  pp.  110,  111. 


L1700.]  GENERAL  RELIGIOUS  DECLENSION.  459 

respecting  the  visible  profession  aud  practice  of  it,  partly  by  the  formality 
of  churches,  but  more  by  the  hypocrisy  and  apostacy  of  formal  hypocriti- 
cal professors.1 

The  life  of  Mr.  Jonathan  Mitchel  was  published  in  1697; 
and  Dr.  Increase  Mather  dedicated  this  work,  which  his  son 
had  compiled,  to  the  church  and  college  at  Cambridge  ;  to 
whom  he  said: — 

A  learned  and  renowned  author,  [Dr.  Owen,]  has  evinced,  that  the  let- 
ting go  this  principle,  that  particular  churches  ought  to  consist  of  regener- 
ate persons,  brought  in  the  great  apostasy  of  the  Christian  church.  The 
way  to  prevent  the  like  apostasy  in  these  churches,  is  to  require  an  account 
of  those  that  offer  themselves  to  communion  therein,  concerning  the  work 
of  God  on  their  souls,  as  well  as. concerning  their  knowledge  and  belief. 
....  Mr.  Mitchell  says,  [in  a  manuscript  of  his  which  I  have  seen,  has 
these  weighty  words  :]  The  over-enlarging  of  full  communion,  or  admis- 
sion of  persons  thereto,  upon  slight  qualifications,  without  insisting  upon 
the  practical  and  spiritual  part  of  religion,  will  not  only  lose  the  power  of 
godliness,  but  in  a  little  time  bring  in  profaneness,  and  ruin  the  churches, 
these  two  ways.  1.  Election  of  ministers  will  soon  be  carried  by  a  for- 
mal, looser  sort.  2.  The  exercise  of  discipline  will  by  this  means  be  ren- 
dered impossible.  Discipline  failing,  profaneness  riseth  like  a  flood  ;  for 
the  major  part  wanting  zeal  against  sin,  will  foster  licentiousness.  It  is 
not  setting  down  good  rules  and  directions,  that  will  save  it ;  for  the  speci- 
fication of  government  is  from  men,  not  from  laws.  Let  never  so  good  a 
form  of  government  be  agreed  upon,  it  will  soon  degenerate,  if  the  instru- 
ments that  manage  it  be  not  good.2 

When  Mr.  Mitchel  wrote  this,  about  1664,  he  had  no 
idea  of  pastors  being  elected  in  New  England  by  any  others 
but  communicants;  and  he  gives  these  weighty  reasons 
against  admitting  such  upon  slight  qualifications,  which 
Dr.  Mather,  then  President  of  the  College,  endeavored  to 
enforce. 

In  the  year  1700,  Mather  published  another  book,  which 
he  dedicated  to  the  churches  of  Christ  in  New  England,  to 
whom  he  said  : — 

The  Congregational  church  discipline  is  not  suited  for  a  worldly  interest, 
or  a  formal  generation  of  professors.     It  will  stand  or  fall  as  godliness,  in 

xTorrey's  Election  Sermon  at  Boston,  May  16,  1683,  p.  11. 

dedication  of  the  Life  of  Jonathan  Mitchel,  pp.  16,  17.  [Magnalia,  Vol.  II,  p. 
59.] 


460  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

the  power  of  it,  does  prevail,  or  otherwise.  That  there  is  a  great  decay  of 
the  power  of  religion  throughout  all  New  England,  is  lamentably  true  ;  if 
that  revive,  there  will  be  no  fear  of  departing  frora   the  holy  discipline  of 

the  churches  of  Christ If  the  begun  apostasy  should  proceed  as  fast, 

the  next  thirty  years,  as  it  has  done  these  last,  surely  it  will  come  to  that 
in  New  England,  (except  the  gospel  itself  depart  with  the  order  of  it)  that 
the  most  conscientious  people  therein  will  think  themselves  concerned  to 
gather  churches  out  of  churches. 

He  goes  on  to  caution  and  warn  them  against  many  evils; 
one  of  which  is  a  dull  formality  in  relations  of  experiences, 
in  order  for  admission  to  communion.     And  he  then  says  : — 

There  are  reports,  as  if  in  some  churches  persons  have  brought  written 
relations,  first  to  the  minister  and  thereto  the  church,  which  were  not  of 
their  own  dictating,  but  devised  by  others  for  them.  I  hope  these  reports 
have  npthing  of  truth  in  them  ;  but  if  they  have,  I  am  sure  that  such  liars 
to  the  Holy  Ghost  have  exceedingly  provoked  the  Lord. 

Another  evil  which  he  warns  the  churches  against,  is 
admitting  any  but  communicants  to  vote  for  pastors  ;  and  he 
cites  Acts  i.  26  ;  vi.  2 — 5  ;  xiv.  23,  to  prove  that  God  has 
plainly  given  this  privilege  "  to  the  brethren  of  particular 
churches  ;"  and  declares  it  to  be  "  simonical  to  affirm,  that 
this  sacred  privilege  may  be  purchased  with  money.1  This 
testimony  was  then  given  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  minis- 
ters in  the  land,  who  had  been  President  of  Harvard  College 
about  twenty  years ;  but  by  unfair  means  he  was  removed 
from  that  office  the  next  year.2 

'Vindication  of  the  Order  of  the   Gospel  in   New  England,  pp.  11,  12,  38,  67,  08. 

'His  life,  p.  173.— B. 

"There  were  some  disaffected  men  who,  for  some  reasons,  (God  knows  what  they 
were,)  were  willing  to  have  the  College  taken  out  of  Dr.  Mather's  hands.  To 
accomplish  it,  they  obtained  a  vote  of  the  General  Assembly  which  appeared  of  a 
plausible  aspect,  that  no  man  should  act  as  President  of  the  College  who  did  not 
reside  at  Cambridge.  The  leaders  in  this  vote  knew  very  well  that  the  Doctor 
would  not  remove  his  habitation  from  a  loving  people  at  Boston  to  reside  at  Cam- 
bridge, while  the  College  was  as  it  then  was.  But  yet  his  abdication  was  after  all 
brought  about.  I  will  but  softly  say,  not  so  fairly  as  it  should  have  been.  I  think 
there  are  thanks  due  to  me  for  my  forbearing  to  tell  the  story.  This  was  in  1701, 
twenty  years  after  his  beginning  to  serve  that  society  in  quality  of  a  President.  And 
I  think  it  will  do  no  hurt  for  me  to  mention  a  passage  which  he  ■  rote  on  this  occa- 
sion. 'I  have  received  more  discouragement  in  the  work  of  God,  from  those  whom  I 
have  laid  under  the  greatest  obligations,  than  by  all  the  world  besides.     Let  not  my 


[1700.]  GENERAL  RELIGIOUS  DECLENSION.  461 

Mr.  Willard  also  published  a  discourse  in  the  year  1700, 
entitled,  "  The  Perils  of  the  Times  Displayed;"  in  which  he 
said : — 

That  there  is  a  form  of  godliness  among  us  is  manifest ;  but  the  great 
inquiry  is,  whether  there  be  not  too  much  of  a  general  denying  of  the 
power  of  it.  Whence  else  is  it,  that  there  be  such  things  as  these  that  fol- 
low, to  be  observed  ?  that  there  is  such  a  prevalency  of  so  many  immor- 
alities among  professors?  that  there  is  so  little  success  of  the  gospel? 
How  few  thorough  conversions  [are]  to  be  observed,  how  scarce  and  seldom. ... 
Tt  hath  been  a  frequent  observation,  that  if  one  generation  begins  to  de- 
cline, the  next  that  follows  usually  grows  worse,  and  so  on,  until  God  pours 
out  his  Spirit  again  upon  them.  The  decays  which  we  do  already  languish 
under  are  sad  ;  and  what  tokens  are  on  our  children,  that  it  is  like  to  be 
better  hereafter  ?  God  be  thanked  that  there  are  some  among  them  that 
promise  well ;  but  alas,  how  doth  vauity  [and  a  fondness  after  new  things] 
abound  among  them  !  How  do  young  professors  grow  weary  of  the  strict 
profession  of  their  fathers,  and  become  strong  disputants  for  the  [those] 
things  which  their  progenitors  forsook  a  pleasant  land  for  the  avoidance 
of.1 

And  forty  years  after,  Mr.  Prince  said,  "  We  have  been 
generally  growing  worse  and  worse  ever  since."2 

The  greatest  evils  that  our  fathers  came  here  to  avoid, 
were  the  mixture  of  worthy  and  unworthy  communicants  in 
the  churches,  and  the  tyranny  of  secular  and  ministerial 
Courts  over  them ;  but  these  evils  were  now  coming  in  like 
a  flood  upon  New  England.  A  church  was  formed  in  Brat- 
tle Street,  Boston,  in  1699,  with  a  professed  design  of  not 
requiring  such  a  strict  profession  of  communicants  as  their 
fathers  did.3     And  Dr.  Colman,  their  minister,  was  judged 

children  put  too  much  confidence  in  men.  It  may  be,  such  as  they  have  laid  under 
the  greatest  obligations  of  gratitude,  will  prove  the  most  unkind  unto  them.  I  have 
often  had  experience  of  it.'  "  Parentator ;  Remarkables  in  the  Life  of  Dr.  Increase 
Mather,  pp.  473,  174.— Ed. 

'Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  100,  101.  2Ibid,  p.  108. 

'"We  only  propose  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  may  be  publicly  read  every  Sabbath 
in  the  worship  of  God,  which  is  not  practised  in  other  churches  of  New  England  at 
this  time  ;  and  that  we  may  lay  aside  the  relation  of  experiences  which  are  imposed 
in  other  churches,  in  order  to  the  admission  of  persons  to  the  Lord's  table."  Extract 
from  the  Letter  of  Invitation  to  Mr.  Colman ;  Drake's  History  of  Boston,  p.  519. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  this  church  in  later  years  drifted  still  farther  from  orthodoxy. 
It  is  now  the  well  known  Brattle  Street  Unitarian  Church. — Ed. 


462  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  have  the  chief  hand  in  publishing  an  anonymous  answer 
to  President  Mathers  vindication  of  their  former  order.  And 
a  discourse  was  printed  in  London,  in  1700,  written  by  Mr. 
Solomon  Stoddard,  of  Northampton,  wherein  he  blends  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  dispensations  together,  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  hold,  that  as  all  who  were  circumcised  were 
obliged  to  keep  the  passover,  so  all  who  have  been  bap- 
tized ought  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  yea,  "  though  they 
know  themselves  to  be  in  a  natural  condition."  And  by  con- 
founding the  work  of  Jewish  and  Christian  officers  together, 
he  asserted  that  the  power  of  admitting,  censuring,  and 
restoring  members,  is  wholly  invested  in  the  elders,  so  that, 
"the  brethren  of  the  church  are  not  to  intermeddle  with  it." 
When  any  of  them  were  unjustly  dealt  with,  they  might 
appeal  to  a  classical,  provincial  and  national  judicature. 
And  says  he,  "  A  national  synod  is  the  highest  ecclesiastical 

authority  upon  earth Every  man  must  stand  to  the 

judgment  of  the  national  synod  ;  Deut.  xvii.  12. "* 

These  are  the  words  of  a  minister  of  great  note  in  New 
England,  whose  doctrine  has  had  an  extensive  spread  therein 
ever  since.  Yet  these  are  some  of  the  main  principles  that 
formerly  brought  on  the  antichristian  apostasy  ;  and  no 
text  in  the  bible  could  be  more  aptly  turned  to  favor  their 
bloody  persecutions  than  the  one  here  brought  to  prove  his 
last  point.  For  it  says,  4i  The  man  that  will  do  presump- 
tuously, and  will  not  hearken  unto  the  priest,  or  unto  the 
judge,  even  that  man  shall  die."  The  priest  was  to  explain 
God's  law,  and  the  judge  was  to  carry  the  same  into  execu- 
tion. This  is  the  very  passage  that  the  ministers  brought  in 
1668,  to  prove  that  the  Baptists  in  Boston  ought  to  be  ban- 
ished.2 But  Dr.  Owen,  in  his  piece  upon  toleration  in  1648, 
truly  observed,  that,  as  God  was  the  head  and  lawgiver  of 
that  nation,  idolatry,  blasphemy,  or  seducing  of  others  from 
his  worship,  were  capital  crimes  ;  and  that  applying  of  those 

'Stoddard  on  Instituted  Churches,  pp.  12,  21,  29,  33.  'See  p.  307. 


[1701.]  GENERAL  RELIGIOUS  DECLENSION.  463 

laws  to  cases  of  worship  or  discipline  in  other  nations,  with 
the  infliction  of  any  other  punishment  than  death,  was 
nothing  but  arbitrary  proceedings.  To  which  I  may  add, 
that  Jesus  Christ,  and  souls  who  are  born  again,  are  all  the 
priests  that  are  named  in  the  New  Testament ;  1  Pet.  i.  23  ; 
ii.  5  ;  and  the  name  is  never  applied  therein  to  officers,  in 
distinction  from  other  saints.  Men  who  have  tried  to  take 
the  power  of  church  government  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
saints,  in  particular  churches,  have  never  been  able  to  fix 
any  rational  bounds  to  it  elsewhere.  A  synod  of  each  na- 
tion is  the  bounds  that  Mr.  Stoddard  proposed  in  this  piece, 
but  would  exclude  the  English  bishops  therefrom,  because 
they  are  not  chosen  by  the  church,  but  the  State  j1  but  they 
were  for  other  measures. 

When  his  book  was  published  in  London,  a  small  Episco- 
pal society  in  Boston  was  the  only  one  of  that  denomination 
in  all  New  England.  But  on  June  16,  1701,  a  charter  was 
procured,  to  incorporate  a  society  to  propagate  (what  they 
called)  the  gospel  in  foreign  parts.  And  they  sent  over  mis- 
sionaries, and  got  their  matters  in  such  forwardness,  in  about 
twelve  years,  as  to  obtain  an  order  from  the  Crown  to  bring 
a  bill  into  Parliament,  to  establish  Episcopacy  in  America ; 
and  its  speedy  accomplishment  was  expected,  when  Divine 
Providence  prevented  it  by  the  sudden  death  of  Queen  Anne, 
August  1,  1714.  And  the  two  succeeding  princes  did  not 
see  cause  to  revive  that  scheme.2  In  1701,  the  two  eldest 
ministers  in  this  province  published  their  testimony  for  the 
ancient  order  of  these  churches,  and  against  growing  declen- 
sions and  corruptions  ;  namely,  Mr.  John  Higginson,  of  Sa- 
lem, aged  85  ;  and  Mr.  William  Hubbard,3  of  Ipswich,  aged 
80  ;  wherein  they  give  their  particular  approbation  of  Presi- 
dent Mather's  vindication  of  that  order.4     In  1702,  Mather 

'Stoddard  on  Instituted  Churches,  p.  30. 

2Chandler's  Appeal,  1767,  pp.  50 — 54.  aThe  historian  so  often  quoted. 

4See  Wise's  works.  [A  vindication  of  the  Government  of  New  England  Churches. 
By  John  Wise,  A.  M.,  Pastor  of  a  church  in  Ipswich.]  pp.  68—74. 


464  HISTORY   OF  THE   BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

published  another  book,  entitled,  "  The  Glory  Departing 
from  New  England  ;"  wherein  he  says  : — 

Alas  !  what  a  change  is  there  in  that  which  hath  been  our  glory  !  .  . . . 
What  a  glorious  presence  of  Christ  was  there  in  all  his  ordinances  !  Many 
were  converted,  and  willingly  declared  what  God  had  done  for  their  souls; 

and  there  were  added  to  the  churches  daily  such  as  should  be  saved 

There  is  sad  cause  to  fear,  that  greater  departures  of  the  glory  are  hasten- 
ing upon  us.  Neither  our  civil  or  ecclesiastical  state  is  ever  like  to  be  what 
it  once  was.1 

The  Massachusetts  Legislature,  which  met  October  15, 
1702,  made  a  long  preamble  about  some  irreligious  towns, 
that  refused  or  neglected  to  receive  and  support  orthodox 
ministers  ;  upon  which  they  added  another  law  to  empower 
the  County  Courts,  after  fining  such  assessors  as  did  not  ful- 
fill their  orders,  to  appoint  others  to  do  it,  and  then  to  pro- 
cure a  warrant  from  two  Justices  of  the  Quorum,  requiring 
the  constables  of  delinquent  towns  or  districts  to  collect  such 
taxes,  upon  the  same  penalty  as  for  other  taxes  ;  and  the 
fines  imposed  upon  delinquent  officers  were  to  go  to  pay 
these  new  assessors  for  their  service  ;  and  the  ministers,  who 
were  thus  supported,  were  then  contriving  to  get  a  classical 
judicature  established  over  the  churches.  They  drew  up 
proposals  for  associations  to  be  formed  in  each  county,  who 
should  have  the  power  of  licensing  candidates  for  the  min- 
istry, and  of  directing  particular  societies,  in  the  call  and 
settlement  of  ministers  ;  to  which  was  to  be  added  a  Stand- 
ing Council,  whose  sentence  should  be  final  and  decisive, 
but  not  without  the  concurrence  of  the  majority  of  the  pas- 
tors present.  A  number  of  ministers  signed  these  proposals 
November  5,  1705,  a  hundred  years  to  a  day  after  the  gun- 
powder plot  was  to  have  blown  up  the  Parliament  in  West- 
minster. They  were  sent  round  for  others  to  sign,  in  order 
to  their  being  presented  to  the  Legislature.  But  Mr.  John 
Wise  had  been  so  well  taught,  by  the  briers  and  thorns  of 
tyranny,2  that,  instead  of  signing   them,   he  wrote  a  sharp 

'Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  pp.  102,  103.  'See  page  417. 


[1705.]  OPPRESSION  OF  QUAKERS.  465 

answer  to  them  ;x  and  though  he  was  forced  to  send  into  an- 
other colony  to  get  it  printed,  yet  their  design  was  defeated 
thereby.  The  ancient  church  of  Plymouth  changed  their 
way  of  receiving  members,  from  verbal  to  written  relations, 
in  this  month  of  November,  1/705. 2 

Dartmouth  and  Tiverton,  where  the  Quakers  were  the  ma- 
jority, were  put  to  trouble,  from  time  to  time,  because  they 
did  not  receive  and  support  such  ministers  as  others  called 
orthodox  ;  and  they  also  met  with  ill  treatment  elsewhere. 
An  old  law  was  in  force  in  Connecticut,  entitled,  Heretics, 
which  forbade  any  town  or  person  to  entertain  any  Quaker, 
upon  penalty  of  five  pounds  a  week,  and  required  that  they 
should  be  imprisoned  and  sent  out  of  tbe  Colony  ;  that  none 
should  hold  unnecessary  discourse  with  them,  upon  penalty 
of  twenty  shillings  ;  that  none,  except  rulers  and  ministers, 
should  keep  any  Quaker  books,  upon  penalty  of  ten  shil- 
lings, and  that  all  such  books  should  be  suppressed  ;  and 
that  no  master  of  any  vessel  should  land  any  Quakers,  with- 
out carrying  them  away  again,  under  the  penalty  of  twenty 
pounds.  And  though  this  law  was  not  rigorously  executed, 
yet  it  was  not  repealed ;  therefore  their  friends  in  London 
made  application,  in  1704,  to  the  Presbyterian,  Congrega- 
tional, and  Baptist  ministers  there,  desiring  that,  as  they 
would  shew  themselves  friends  to  equal  liberty,  they  would 
use  their  influence  in  their  favor,  and  apply  to  the  queen  for 
a  repeal  of  said  law.  This  was  thought  not  to  be  so  agree- 
able, as  to  try  for  a  reformation  in  New  England  ;  and  there- 
fore  said  ministers  in  London  wrote,  to  some  ministers  of 

lrThis  treatise  bore  the  following  title  : — "  The  Churches'  Quarrel  Espoused,  or  a 
Reply,  in  Satyr,  to  certain  Proposals  made  in  answer  to  this  Question  :  What  further 
steps  are  to  be  taken  that  the  Councils  may  have  due  constitution  and  efficacy  in  sup- 
porting, preserving  and  well-ordering  the  interest  of  the  Churches  in  the  country  ? 
By  John  Wise,  A.  M.,  Pastor  of  a  Church  in  Ipswich, 

'  Wherefore  rebuke  them  sharply,  that  they  may  be  sound  in  the  faith.' 

Abjiciendus  pudor  quoties  urget  necessitas?" — Ed. 

'Plymouth  Register,  p.  31.  [Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  Vol.  IV.  p.  138.] 
30 


466  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

influence  here,  a  letter  to  be  communicated  to  others,  where- 
in they  said  : — 

We  cannot  but  judge  it  disagreeable  with  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the 
gospel,  and  an  encroachment  upon  the  divine  prerogative  and  the  undoubted 
rights  of  mankind,  to  punish  any  for  their  conscientious  and  peaceable  dis- 
sent from  the  established  way  of  religion,  while  they  are  not  justly  charge- 
able with  any  immorality,  or  what  is  plainly  destructive  of  civil   society.1 

But  as  that  law  was  not  repealed  here,  the  queen  and 
Council  repealed  it,  October  11,  1705  ;  a  copy  of  which  act 
was  published  by  John  Eogers,  of  New  London,  soon  after; 
and  the  same  is  in  a  late  history.2 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1705,  such  a  revival  of  relig- 
ion was  granted  in  Taunton,  in  the  county  of  Bristol,  as 
turned  the  minds  of  the  people  there  in  general  from  vain 
companies,  and  many  immoralities,  to  an  earnest  attention  to 
religious  worship  and  conversation.3  Some  things  of  like 
nature  appeared  in  Boston,  and  in  several  other  places. 
About  the  same  time,  Elder  Valentine  Wightman,4  from 
North  Kingstown,  went  and  settled  at  Groton,  seven  miles 
north  of  New  London,  where  he  became  pastor  of  the  first 
Baptist  church  in  Connecticut.  For  some  years  they  were 
oppressed  by  the  ruling  party  ;  but  in  his  latter  days  they 
enjoyed  liberty,  and  also  much  of  a  divine  blessing.  He  min- 
istered there  to  good  purpose  for  more  than  forty  years,  and 
died  June  9,  1747,  as  his  son  who  succeeds  him  informs  me. 
Their  brethren  at  Boston,  being  destitute  of  a  pastor,  wrote 
again  to  England  for  help,  from  whence  a  number  of  minis- 
ters sent  them  the  following  answer : — 

To  the  church  of  Christ,  baptized  on  profession  of  their  faith,  in  Boston, 

New  England : 

London,  March  17,  1706-7. 

Di.ak  BRETHREN  : — We  are  heartily  concerned  for  you,  since  we  have 

heard  of  your  being  destitute  of  a  pastor;  and  are   so   much  the   more 

troubled,  becanse  we  cannot   think  of  a  minister,  who  is  at   liberty,  proper 

for  you.      We  are  glad  to  hear  that  you  find  so  much  kindness   among  the 

•Calamy's  Abridgment,  p.  071,  "Douglai,  Vol.  II,  pp.  389.  340. 

"Christian  History,  Vol.  II,  pp.  108—112.         "See  page  322,  note.— Ed. 


L1708.]  ELDER  SCREVEN  INVITED  TO  BOSTON.  467 

ministers  of  another  denomination,  that  they  are  willing  to  assist  you,  and 
should  more  rejoice  to  hear  you  had  a  minister  well  qualified  of  your  own 
persuasion  ;  but  at  present  we  can  serve  you  no  otherwise  than  to  pray  for 
you  that  you  may  have  an  agreeable  settlement ;  that  you  may  increase 
both  in  knowledge  and  grace,  and  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of  our  God  and 
Saviour,  by  a  holy  conversation.  So  pray,  dear  brethren,  your  brethren 
and  servants  in  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ, 

Nathaniel  Wyles,  Richard  Adams, 

Richard  Parkes,  John  Piggot, 

Joseph  Stennett,  Benjamin  Stinton, 

Nathaniel  Hodges,  Richard  Allen. 

Joseph  Masters, 

The  Baptist  church  which  was  formed  at  Kittery,  in  1682,1 
returned  again  to  their  connection  with  the  church  at  Bos- 
ton, and  Mr.  Drown  moved  there,  whose  son  Shem  was  long 
serviceable  in  the  office  of  deacon  among  them.  Elder 
Screven  went  to  South  Carolina,  to  whom  the  church  at  Bos- 
ton now  wrote;  and  on  June  2,  1707,  he  returned  an  an- 
swer, wherein  he  said  : — 

Dearly  beloved,  this  may  inform  you,  that  I  have  marry  thoughts  of 
heart  about  you,  and  am  much  concerned  for  you  ;  and  hope  I  may  say,  my 
prayers  are  to  God  for  you,  though  I  am  not  with  you  ;  nor  can  I  come  as 
I  was  inclined  to  do,  our  help  being  taken  from  us  ;  for  our  minister  who 
came  from  England  is  dead,  and  I  can  by  no  means  be  spared.  I  must  say 
it  is  a  great  loss,  and  to  me  a  great  disappointment,  but  the  will  of  the 
Lord  is  done.  I  have  longed  to  hear  that  you  was  supplied  with  an  able 
minister,  who  might  break  the  bread  of  life  among  you  ;  but  if  the  Lord 
do  not  please  to  supply  you  in  the  way  you  expected,  your  way  will  be  to 
improve  the  gifts  you  have  in  the  church.  Brother  Callender  aud  Joseph 
Russell,  I  know,  have  gifts  that  may  tend  to  edification,  if  improved.  I 
think  you  should  call  one  or  both  of  them  to  it. 

They  did  so  to  Mr.  Callender,  as  appears  by  a  letter  from 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  to  him,  of  August  6,  1708, 
which  mentions  it  ;2  and  the  letter  closes  thus  : — 

I  have  been  brought  very  low  by  sickness  ;  but  I  bless  God  I  was  helped 
to  preach  and  administer  the  communion  last  Lord's  day,  but  am  still  weak. 

JSee  page  405. 

2"I  rejoice  that  you  are  inclined  to,  and  employed  in,  the  blessed  work  of  the  Lord 
for  the  support  of  his  cause,  and  the  comfort  of  his  saints  left  of  a  poor,  languish 


468  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Our  society  are  for  the  most  part  in  health,  and  I  hope  thriving  in  grace. 
We  are  about  ninety  in  all.  I  rest  your  affectionate  brother  and  fellow- 
laborer,  in  the  best  of  services,  for  the  best  reward, 

William  Screven. 

We  must  now  consider  how  error  had  a  further  spread  in 
this  country.  Mr.  Stoddard  published  a  sermon  from  Exod. 
xii.  47,  48,  wherein  he  says,  "A  minister  who  knows  him- 
self unregenerate,  may  nevertheless  lawfully  administer  bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper.  Men  who  are  destitute  of 
saving  grace  may  preach  the  gospel,  and  therefore  adminis- 
ter and  so  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper."  President  Mather 
answered  him  in  1708,  when  he  said  of  this  passage,  "  I  am 
mistaken  if  in  this  logic  there  is  not  sophistry."  But  the 
misery  of  both  of  them  was,  an  entanglement  in  an  incon- 
sistent scheme.  The  advocates  for  the  Half-way  Covenant 
in  1662,  said,  we  know  of  no  stronger  argument  for  infant 
baptism  than  this,  that  church  members  are  to  be  baptized  ;a 
and  now  Stoddard  says,  "This  sacrament  is  a  converting  ordi- 
nance to  church  members  only,  and  not  for  other  men.  The 
children  of  God's  people  should  be  baptized,  which  are  gen- 
erally at  that  time  in  a  natural  condition."  Upon  which  his 
opponent  says,  "  We  are  to  judge  as  charitably  of  the  child 
as  we  do  of  the  parent.  We  baptize  them  as  being  disci- 
ples and  believers,  and  visibly  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  Dr.  Goodwin  says,  the  infants  of  believers  are  the 
purest  part  of  the  church."2 

How  imperfect  is  human  knowledge  !  Stoddard  pub- 
lished a  reply  in  1709,  wherein  all  his  arguments  turn  upon 
these  points,  viz.,  that  "if  unsanctified  persons  might  law- 
fully come  to  the  passover,  then  such  [they]  may  lawfully 

ing  church  with  you;  as  it  must  and  will,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  be,  if  you  have 
the  blessed  ordinances  of  the  holy  Jesus  among  you  again I  pray  God  to  be 

witb  your  spirit  and  Strengthen  you  to  the  great  work  to  which  you  are  called;  and 
that  the  little  vine  may  be  flourishing  under  your  band."  Extract  from  Screven's 
letter  to  Callcnder ;   Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  Papers. — Ed. 

'See  page  208. 

2Stoddard's  Sermon,  pp.  13,  27;  Mather's  answer,  pp.  G7,  G8. 


[1708.]  GOVERNOR  SALTONSTALL  OF  CONNECTICUT.  469 

come  to  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  they  who  [do]  convey  to 
their  children  a  right  to  [the  sacrament  of]  baptism,  have 
a  right  themselves  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  provided  they 
carry  inoffensively."1  He  could  plainly  see  that  there  was 
no  half-way  in  the  Jewish  church  ;  and  his  opponent  could 
see  as  plainly,  that  fruits  meet  for  repentance  were  required 
in  order  for  baptism,  even  of  such  as  were  in  the  covenant 
of  circumcision.  But  as  tradition  had  taught  them  both  to 
build  the  Christian  church  upon  that  covenant,  neither  of 
them  could  act  consistently  thereon  ;  though  they  were  two 
of  the  most  eminent  ministers  then  in  New  England.  Most 
of  their  successors  have  held  fast  their  errors,  but  not  their 
virtues.  And  as  these  things  shew  how  the  churches  were 
corrupted,  so  what  follows  discovers  how  they  were  en- 
slaved. 

The  third  Governor  Winthrop2  died  November  27,  1707, 
upon  which  a  special  meeting  of  the  Assembly  of  Connecti- 
cut Avas  called  on  December  17,  to  choose  them  another 
Governor.  By  a  law  then  in  force,  he  was  to  be  elected  out 
of  a  certain  number  of  men  in  previous  nomination ;  but 
they  broke  over  those  limits,  and  elected  an  ordained  minis- 
ter of  New  London  for  their  Governor ;  who,  when  they 
sent  an  account  of  it  to  him,  readily  quitted  the  solemn 
charge  of  souls,  for  worldly  promotion,  and  was  sworn  into 
his  new  office,  January  1,  1708  ;  after  which  they  repealed 
the  law  that  they  had  before  broken,  and  enacted  that  for 
the  future,  the  Governor  might  be  chosen  out  of  any  of  the 
freemen.3  Mr.  Gurdon  Saltonstall,  son  to  a  Massachusetts 
magistrate,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  was  the  Gov- 
ernor thus  chosen,  and  by  annual  elections  he  was  continued 
in  that  office  for  sixteen  years.  He  was  a  great  politician, 
and  he  exerted  all  his  influence  to  raise  ministerial  power  as 
high  as  possible.     He  took  the  proposals  of  1705,  and  pre- 

JAppeal  to  the  Learned,  pp.  50,  89. 

2Fitz  John  Winthrop.   See  p.  430.— Ed. 

3TrumbuH's  History  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  I,  Chapter  XVIII,  pp.  431,  432.— Ed. 


470  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

sented  them  to  their  Legislature, where  their  unscriptural  form 
was  soon  taken  notice  of;  for  there  was  not  a  text  of  Scrip- 
ture in  the  whole  scheme.  Perceiving  that  it  could  not  be 
received  so,  it  was  withdrawn  without  much  noise,  and  the 
following  method  was  taken  to  carry  his  point.  An  act  was 
passed  by  the  Assembly  that  met  at  Hartford,  May  13, 1708, 
which  says : — 

This  Assembly,  from  their  own  observation,  and  from  the  complaint  of 
[many]  others,  being  made  sensible  of  the  defects  of  the  discipline  of  the 
churches  of  this  government,  arising  from  the  want  of  a  more  explicit  as- 
serting the  rules  given  for  that  end  in  the  holy  Scriptures,  from  which 
would  arise  a  firm  [permanent]  establishment  amongst  ourselves,  a  good 
and  regular  issue  in  cases  subject  to  ecclesiastical  discipline,  glory  to  Christ 
our  Head,  and  edification  to  his  members  J1  hath  seen  fit  to  ordain  and  re- 
quire, and  it  is  by  authority  of  the  same  ordained  and  required,  that  the 
ministers  of  the  churches,  in  the  several  counties  of  this  government,  shall 
meet  together  at  their  respective  county  towns,  with  such  messengers  as 
the  churches  to  which  they  belong  shall  see  cause  to  send  with  them,  on 
the  last  Monday  in  June  next,  there  to  consider  and  agree  upon  those 
methods  and  rules  for  the  management  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  which 
by  them  shall  be  judged  agreeable  and  conformable  to  the  word  of  God  ; 
and  shall  at  the  same  meeting  appoint  two  or  more  of  their  number  to  be 
their  delegates,  who  shall  all  meet  together  at  Saybrook  at  the  next  Com- 
mencement to  be  held  there,2  where  they  shall  compare  the  results  of  the 
ministers  of  the  several  counties,  and  out  of  and  from  them  to  draw  a  form 
of  ecclesiastical  discipline. 

This  was  to  be  presented  to  the  Assembly  for  their  accept- 
ance, and  the  expense  of  those  meetings  was  to  be  borne 
out  of  the  Colony  treasury.  This  order  was  obeyed  ;  and 
the  ministers  who  met  at  Saybrook,  September  9,  1708, 
adopted  the  Confession  of  Faith  that  was  composed  at  the 
Savoy  in  London,  1658,3  and   the  heads  of  agreement  en- 

'Chureh  and  State  are  here  confounded  together;  as  if  a  being  member!  of  the 
civil  community,  made  men  members  of  Christ,  and  him  their  Bead. 

2This  ^as  the  Commencement  of  the  "Collegiate  School  of  the  Colony  of  Con- 
necticut," afterwards  Yale  College,  which  was  founded  at  Saybrook  and  continued 
there  till  171G.— Ei>. 

■The  Savoy  Confession  of  Faith  was  drawn  up  and  adopted  by  an  assembly  of  the 
ministers  and  messengers  of  Independent  churches.  It  is  a  modification  of  the 
Westminster  Confession,  omitting  from  that  the  articles  relating  to  church  discipline, 
and  adding  instead  a  few  articles  affirming  and  explaining  Independency.  Neal's 
History  of  the  Puritans,  Toulmin's  edition,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  213— 218.— Ed. 


[1708.]  THE  SAYBROOK  PLATFORM.  471 

tered  into  between  Presbyterians  and  Independents  in  Lon- 
don, 1690,  and  then  added  fifteen  articles  concerning  church 
discipline,  which  were  the  proposals  of  1705  new  modeled, 
with  Scripture  references  annexed  to  each  article  ;  though 
a  gentleman  of  that  day  observed,  that  the  text  which 
speaks  of  Balaam's  saddling  his  ass  would  have  been  as 
much  to  the  purpose  as  many  they  brought.  Their  second 
article,  which  contains  a  summary  of  the  whole  scheme,  is 
in  these  words,  viz. : — 

That  the  churches,  which  are  neighboring  each  to  other,  shall  consociate 
for  mutual  affording  to  each  other  such  assistance  as  may  be  requisite,  upon 
all  occasions  ecclesiastical ;  and  that  the  particular  pastors  and  churches, 
within  the  respective  counties  in  this  government,  shall  be  one  Consociation 
(or  more  if  they  shall  judge  meet)  for  the  end  aforesaid.  Psalm  cxxii. 
3 — 5  ;  cxxxiii.  1  ;  EccL  iv.  9 — 12  ;  Acts  xv.  2,  6,  22,  23  ;  I  Tim.  iv.  14  ; 
I  Cor.  xvi.  I.1 

The  first  of  these  texts  speaks  of  princes  on  their  thrones, 
and  not  of  church  officers.  And  when  we  come  to  the  ante- 
type  of  Aaron's  and  David's  line,  we  find  none  therein  but 
Jesus  Christ,  and  regenerate  souls.  Officers,  as  distinguished 
from  other  saints  in  the  Christian  church,  are  never  called 
priests  nor  kings  in  the  New  Testament.  And.  said  an  emi- 
nent father  of  New  England,  iC  The  order  of  officers  in  the 
church  is  an  order  of  servants,  and  the  order  of  saints  an 
order  of  kings  (which  is  the  highest  order  in  the  church)  sit- 
ting upon  the  thrones  of  David  for  judgment,  whom  the  min- 
isters are  to  serve,  in  guiding  and  going  before  them  in,  and 
ministering  of,  their  judgments."2  Their  second  proof  re- 
fers to  the  unity  of  brethren  under  our  great  High  Priest, 
who  most  explicitly  excludes  all  striving  about  who  shall  be 
the  greatest  from  his  kingdom.  Neither  is  the  third  text 
any  more  to  their  purpose.  The  fourth  gives  an  account  of 
the  meeting  of  one  church,  at  the  request  of  another  two 
hundred  miles  off,  upon  a  special  occasion,  and  not  of  the 

Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  I,  Chapter  XIX.  pp.  481— 183.— Ed. 
2Kobinson  against  Bernard,  p.  227.  [Works  of  John  Robinson,  Vol.  II,  p.  238.] 


472     HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

meeting  of  neighboring  churches  upon  all  occasions  ecclesi- 
astical. The  last  two  treat  of  gifts  received  by  prophecy, 
and  of  orders  given  to  the  churches  by  apostolic  authority  ; 
and  until  ordinary  ministers  can  prove  that  they,  as  such, 
are  princes  on  their  thrones,  and  are  endowed  with  apostolic 
authority  over  the  churches,  we  may  safely  conclude  that 
the  above  application  of  Scriptures  was  a  perverting  of  them 
from  their  genuine  meaning  and  design.  Yet  thereby  two 
kinds  of  judicatures  were  set  up  over  the  churches.  The 
one  called  Consociations,  consisting  of  ministers  meeting  in 
their  own  persons,  and  churches  by  their  messengers,  where- 
of each  church  may  send  one  or  two,  though  the  want  of 
them  is  not  to  invalidate  the  acts  of  any  council  ;  but  none 
of  their  acts  are  esteemed  valid  without  the  concurrence  of 
the  majority  of  the  pastors  present.  They  are  the  Standing 
Council  within  each  circuit  upon  all  occasions  ecclesiastical, 
though  in  cases  of  special  difficulty  they  may  call  the  next 
Consociation  to  sit  and  a'ct  with  them.  They  are  to  have  a 
new  choice  of  messengers  and  moderators  once  a  year,  if 
not  oftener,  and  the  last  moderator  is  to  call  a  new  meeting 
when  it  is  judged  proper.  Their  sentence  is  to  be  final  and 
decisive.  Their  other  judicatures  are  called  Associations, 
which  are  meetings  of  ministers  by  themselves  in  each  cir- 
cuit, as  often  as  they  think  proper,  to  hear  and  answer  ques- 
tions of  importance,  to  examine  and  license  candidates  for 
the  ministry,  to  receive  complaints  from  individuals  or  socie- 
ties, and  to  direct  to  the  calling  of  the  Council  to  try  the 
same,  when  they  judge  proper ;  to  direct  destitute  churches 
in  calling  and  settling  of  pastors,  and  to  make  complaint 
to  their  Legislature  against  such  as  they  judge  to  be  negli- 
gent of  their  duty  in  that  respect.  And  each  Association 
sends  a  delegate  or  two  to  a  General  Association  once  a  year, 
from  all  parts  of  that  government. 

This  scheme  was  not  introduced  without  glaring  deceit ; 
for  their  Fourth  Article  says,  "that  according  to  the  common 
practice  of  our  churches,  nothing*  shall  be  deemed  an  act  or 


[1708.J  THE  POWER   OF  COUNCILS  AND  SYNODS.  473 

judgment  of  any  council,  which  hath  not  the  major  part  of 
the  elders  present,  concurring,  and  such  a  number  of  the 
messengers  present,  as  makes  the  majority  of  the  council,"1 
whereas  this  practice  was  so  far  from  being  common,  that  it 
was  an  innovation  then  made,  directly  subversive  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  New  England  churches  ;2  as 
we  are  assured  by  Mr.  Wise,  Dr.  Mather,  and  others.  No 
man  knew  better  what  those  principles  were  than  Mr. 
Thomas  Hooker,  the  first  minister  of  Hartford ;  and  he  is 
full  in  it,  that,  though  it  is  expedient  on  special  occasions  to 
call  councils  or  synods,  yet  elders  act  therein  as  commission- 
/  ers  sent,  and  not  as  pastors  ;  and  that  other  messengers  sent 
have  equal  power  with  them.3  Says  he,  "  God  hath  set  offi- 
cers in  the  church  ;  I  Cor.  xii.  28  ;  therefore  the  church  is 
before  officers."  And  from  Matt,  xviii.  15 — 18,  and  I  Cor. 
v.  12,  he  concludes,  "  that  each  man  and  member  of  the  so- 
ciety, in  a  just  way,  may  be  directed,  censured,  reformed  or 
removed,  by  the  power  of  the  whole,  and  each  may  and 
should  judge  with  the  consent  of  the  whole.  This  belongs 
to  all  the  members,  and  therefore  to  any  that  shall  be  in 
office,  if  they  be  members.  They  are  superior  as  officers, 
when  they  keep   the  rule  ;  but  inferior  as  members,  and  in 

subjection  to  any  when  they  break  the  rule Christ  gave 

some  to  be  pastors,  some  to  be  teachers.  He  alone,  out  of 
his  supreme  and  regal  power,  doth  furnish  them  with  graces 
and  abilities,  appoints  the  work,  lays  out  the  compass  there- 
of, the  manner  of  dispensing,  and  the  order  and  bounds  of 
their  dispensation."  And  he  observes,  that  to  remove  the 
power  of  censure  from  a  particular  church,  leads  into  end- 
less disputes  ;  because  no  General  Council  was  called  in  the 

Trumbull's  History  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  I,  Chapter  XIX,  p.  483. —Ed. 

2Mr.  Backus  seems  to  have  misapprehended  the  force  of  the  above  Article.  It 
does  not  state  that  it  had  been  the  common  practice  of  the  churches,  to  hold  eccles- 
iastical councils,  or  to  allow  them  the  authority  which  they  afterwards  exercised, 
but  only  that  it  had  been  the  common  practice  of  the  churches  to  require  a  majority 
vote  of  both  the  elders  and  messengers  in  order  to  the  validity  of  any  act. — Ed. 

3Survey  of  Church  Discipline.  Part  I,  p.  119. 


474  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

first  three  centuries,  and  no  man  can  tell  as  there  will  ever 
be  another.1  Says  he,  "  The  truth  is,  a  particular  congrega- 
tion is  the  highest  tribunal,  unto  which  the  grieved  party 
may  appeal  in  the  third  place,  if  private  council,  or  the  wit- 
nesses of  two,  have  seemed  to  proceed  too  [much]  sharply.  If 
difficulties  arise  in  proceeding,  the  council  of  other  churches 
should  be  sought  to  clearthe  truth  ;  but  the  power  of  censure 

rests  in  the  congregation,  where  Christ  placed  it The 

churches  sent  them,  and  therefore  are  above  them."2  Yet 
now  the  churches  were  not  allowed  the  power  to  say  whether 
their  ministers  should  meet  at  Saybrook,  or  not ;  and  the  re- 
sult of  their  meeting  being  laid  before  the  Legislature  of 
October  14,  1708,  they  said: — 

This  Assembly  do  [doth]  declare  their  great  approbation  of  such  a 
happy  agreement,  and  do  ordain  that  all  the  churches  within  this  govern- 
ment, that  are  or  shall  be  thus*  united,  in  doctrine,  worship  and  discipline, 
be,  and  for  the  future  shall  be  owned  and  acknowledged,  established  by 
law,  provided  always,  that  nothing  herein  shall  be  intended  and  construed 
to  hinder  or  prevent  any  society  or  church,  that  is  or  shall  be  allowed  by 
the  laws  of  this  government,  who  soberly  differ  or  dissent  from  the  united 
churches  hereby  established,  from  exercising  worship  and  discipline  in 
their  own  way,  according  to  their  consciences.3 

Thus  artfully  was  this  new  scheme  established,  and  all 
others  declared  to  be  no  more  than  allowed  or  tolerated. 

Mr.  John  Woodward,  another  Cambridge  scholar,  was 
then  minister  of  Norwich  ;  and  he  soon  got  and  read  off  to 
his  congregation  the  first  part  of  this  act,  but  without  the 
proviso.  Richard  Bushnel  and  Joseph  Backus,4  Esquires, 
who  had  opposed  that  scheme  in  the  Assembly,  informed 
their  church  of  the  liberty  that  they  had  to  dissent  from  it  ; 
but  the  minister  carried  a  major  vote  against  them  ;  there- 
fore those  representatives,  and  other  fathers  of  the  town, 
withdrew  from  that  tyranny,  and  held  worship  by  themselves 

1  Survey  of  Church  Discipline,  Part  I,  pp.  119,  188,  190,  232,  238. 
Ibid,  Part  IV,  pp.  19,  47. 

Trumbull'l  History  of  Connecticut,  Vol.  I,  Chapter  XIX,  p.  487.— Ed. 
Moseph  Backus  was  the  author's  grandfather.— Ed. 


[1709.]  OPPKESSIVE  MEASURES  IN  CONNECTICUT.  475 

for  three  months.  For  this,  the  minister  and  his  party  cen- 
sured them  ;  an  account  of  which  being  sent  to  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Assembly,  they  were  expelled  therefrom. 
Hereby  we  may  see  how  far  corruption  had  prevailed  in  our 
land.  For  in  1641,  three  years  after  the  first  taxing  law  for 
ministers  was  made  in  New  England,  a  law  was  made  at 
Boston,  which  said,  "  No  church  censure  shall  degrade  or 
depose  any  man  from  any  civil  dignity,  office  or  authority, 
he  shall  have  in  the  Commonwealth."1  How  much  more 
equitable  was  this,  than  another  law  in  Connecticut,  which 
said : — 

Whatsoever  persons  shall  on  the  Lord's  day,  under  any  pretence  whatso- 
ever, assemble  themselves  together  in  any  of  the  public  meeting-houses, 
provided  in  any  town,  parish  or  society,  for  the  public  worship  of  God, 
without  leave  or  allowance  of  the  minister  and  congregation  for  whose  use 
it  was  provided,  and  be  thereof  convict,  every  such  person  shall  incur  the 
penalty  of  ten  shillings  for  every  such  offence.  Nor  shall  any  persons 
neglect  the  public  worship  of  God  in  some  lawful  congregation,  and  form 
themselves  into  separate  companies  in  private  houses,  on  penalty  of  ten  shil- 
lings for  every  such  offence. 

This  part  concerning  separate  meetings  caused  sore  exer- 
cises to  many  serious  minds,  and  great  difficulties  in  procur- 
ing civil  officers  ;  yet  it  was  never  repealed  until  October, 
1770.  But  not  long  after  the  Norwich  minister  had  cen- 
sured their  representatives,  he  consented  to  refer  the  matter 
to  a  council ;  and  they  followed  it,  with  council  after  coun- 
cil, for  about  six  years.  Governor  Saltonstall  came  there 
himself  upon  one  of  those  occasions ;  and  Mr.  Stoddard  of 
Northampton  was  Moderator  of  the  last  but  one  of  those 
councils.  My  grandfather  went  a  journey  as  far  as  Boston 
and  Ipswich,  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  to  consult  with  Mr. 
Wise  and  the  two  Mathers  upon  these  affairs.  At  last,  by 
advice  of  a  council  that  met  August  31,  1716,  said  minister 
was  dismissed,  and  the  church  in  Norwich  determined  to 
abide  upon  their  ancient  foundation.  And  it  was  known 
that  when  the  church  was  constituted  at  Saybrook,  in  1660, 

1  Massachusetts  Law-book,  printed  1672,  p.  44. 


±16  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

with  the  approbation  of  other  ministers,  Mr.  James  Fitch 
was  ordained  their  pastor,  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands 
only  of  their  two  deacons,  as  a  token  that  the  power  of 
ordination  is  in  the  church  as  a  body.  They  came  and 
planted  Norwich  the  same  year  ;  and  Mr.  Fitch  was  con- 
tinued one  of  the  most  useful  ministers  in  Connecticut  for 
near  fifty  years.  The  church  in  East  Windsor,  under  the 
care  of  Mr.  Timothy  Edwards,  father  of  Mr.  Jonathan,  also 
refused  to  receive  the  Saybrook  Platform.  And  the  temper 
of  those  who  introduced  it  farther  appears  by  the  incorpo- 
rating act  of  the  town  of  Killingly,  passed  in  May,  1708; 
which  says,  "  No  person  now  inhabiting  on  said  lands,  or 
any  other  persons  dwelling  without  this  colony,  who  have 
purchased  any  lands  within  the  said  township,  that  shall  not 
give  due  obedience  to  all  the  laws  of  this  colony  for  the  up- 
holding the  worship  of  God,  and  paying  all  public  charges, 
shall  have  any  benefit  by  this  act."  At  the  same  time  they 
gave  their  Governor  two  hundred  acres  of  land  therein. 
This  account  is  carefully  taken  from  the  public  records  and 
laws,  and  other  authentic  vouchers. 

A  few  things  concerning  baptism  shall  close  this  chapter. 
An  aged  and  honorable  gentleman  near  Piscataqua  River 
informed  me,  that  about  the  year  IT  10,  a  number  of  people 
in  Dover1  were  so  fully  persuaded  that  they  ought,  in  a  lit- 
eral sense,  to  be  buried  in  baptism,  that  on  a  Lord's  day 
and  the  day  after,  Mr.  Pike,  their  minister,  baptized  nine 
persons  in  that  way,  in  a  branch  of  that  river.  But  such  a 
noise  was  made,  and  opposition  raised  against  it,  as  pre- 
vented any  further  proceedings  therein.  About  the  same  time 
a  Baptist  meeting  was  set  up  at  Scituate,  in  the  county  of 
Plymouth,  where  President  Dunstar  spent  his  latter  days  to 
good  purpose.2  Mr.  John  Peirce  preached  to  them  for  some 
time,  until  he  and  others  removed  to  Swanzey,  in  or  about 
1711,  and  on  October  19,  1715,  he  was  ordained  a  pastor  of 

1  Mr.  Hansard  Knollys  was  minister  there,  from  the  spring  of  1638  to  the  fall  of 
1641.    See  pp.  81,  B2. 

*  See  pp.  255,  250. 


[1709.]  ELDERS  MASON,  PIERCE  AND  CALLENDER.  477 

the  second  church  there,  colleague  with  Elder  Joseph  Ma- 
son, who  was  ordained  in  July,  1709.  And  they  continued 
in  good  esteem  in  their  offices,  until  Elder  Mason  died,  May 
19,  1748,  and  Elder  Peirce,  September  8, 1750,  being  each  of 
them  near  ninety  years  old.  On  March  16,  1714,  Dr.  Cotton 
Mather  wrote  the  letter  to  the  Baptist  church  in  Boston, 
which  is  in  page  420  ;  subscribed  thus,  viz.,  "  To  my  worthy 
friend,  Mr.  Ellis  Callender,  elder  of  a  church  of  Christ  in 
Boston."  He  joined  it  in  1669  ;  was  a  leading  member  of 
it  when  the  Court  nailed  up  their  meeting-house  in  1680  ; 
and  he  was  continued  a  great  blessing  to  them  until  he  died 
in  a  good  old  age,  after  the  year  1726. 


CHAPTER     X. 


Arbitrary  Claims   and   Proceedings. — Moody   and  White  against 
them.— a  cruel  law. liberty  in  rhode  island. mather  for  it. 

IS     FRIENDLY    TO     THE    BAPTISTS. JENNINGS     JOINS     THEM. WaLLIN'S 

Letters. — Arian  Heresy. — Hollis's  Donations. — Some  Revival  of 
Religion. — Comer  Converted. 


Governor  Lyndon  informed  me,  that  when  the  Quakers 
were  hanged  at  Boston,  a  view  of  the  cruelty  then  exercised 
towards  them,  and  of  their  behavior  under  their  sufferings, 
moved  Peter  Wanton  to  join  with  that  people.  And  his 
son  Joseph  was  a  teacher  among  them  in  Tiverton  for  many 
years  ;  whose  daughter  Richardson  told  me,  that,  during 
Governor  Dudley's  administration,  her  father  was  frequently 
sent  to  Boston,  to  defend  his  town  against  the  arbitrary 
claims  of  other  ministers  ;  and  that  the  Governor  privately 
favored  him  therein.  Some  extracts  from  the  records  of  the 
Quaker  society  show,  that  in  1707,  a  cow  worth  three 
pounds,  was  taken  from  John  Packom,  of  Little  Compton, 
for  a  ministerial  tax  of  six  shillings  and  twopence  ;  and 
that  their  monthly  meeting  on  Rhode  Island,  in  the  seventh 
month,  1708,  sent  Joseph  Wanton  with  an  address  to  Gov- 
ernor Dudley,  "  desiring  relief  from  sufferings  for  priests' 
rates,  by  a  repeal  of  those  laws  ;  "  informing  him  that  if  it 
was  not  done  here,  they  thought  it  their  duty  to  address  the 
British  Court  upon  it.  A  like  application  was  afterwards 
made  by  the  hand  of  Ebenezer  Slocum,  who  reported  to  a 


480  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

meeting  in  1709,  that  the  Governor  appeared  kind  and 
friendly  ;  but  as  no  relief  was  granted,  they  then  sent  to 
England  upon  those  matters.  By  the  same  records  we  are 
informed,  that  in  1716,  five  cows  and  calves,  worth  twenty- 
five  pounds,  were  taken  from  Peleg  Slocum,  and  twenty-four 
sheep  worth  eight  pounds,  eight  shillings,  from  John  and 
Abraham  Tucker,  all  upon  Slocum's  Island,  and  near  all  for 
"  a  demand  of  Priest  Holmes,  of  Chilmark,"  to  which  town 
said  island  belonged,  although  the  great  channel  betwixt  the 
main  and  Martha's  Vineyard  must  be  crossed  to  get  to  it. 
However,  ministers  were  far  from  being  content  with  all  the 
power  they  had  yet  obtained,  and  therefore  presented  a  peti- 
tion to  their  Legislature,  that  they  would  call  a  General 
Synod  ;  doubtless  to  revise  and  carry  into  effect  the  pro- 
posals of  1705.  The  Council  voted  to  grant  their  petition, 
but  it  was  not  concurred  with  by  the  other  branches  of  the 
Legislature.1  And  two  excellent  ministers  had  such  a  sight 
of  their  danger,  as  to  write  the  following  letter  to  Mr. 
Wise. 

Gloucester,  March  25,  1715. 
Reverend  Sir  : — We  have  had  the  favor  and  satisfaction  of  reading, 
and,  according  to  our  measure,  considering,  the  transcendent  logic,  as  well 
as  grammar  and  rhetoric,  of  your  Reply  to  the  Proposals,  by  which  our 
eyes  are  open  to  see  much  more  than  ever  before  we  saw  of  the  value  and 
glory  of  our  invaded  privileges  ;  and  are  of  opinion,  that  if  your  consent 
may  be  obtained  to  a  new  edition,  it  may  be  of  wonderful  service  to  our 
churches,  if  God  shall  please  to  go  forth  with  it.  However,  it  will  be  a 
testimony  that  all  our  watchmen  were  not  asleep,  nor  the  camp  of  Christ 
surprised  and  taken  before  they  had  warning.  We  are,  Reverend  Sir,  full 
of  dutiful  respect  and  gratitude,  your  sons  and  servants, 

Samuel  Moody, 
John  White. 

It  was  reprinted  accordingly  ;  and,  with  Mr.  Wise's  other 
works,  it  had  two  editions  more  in  1773,  upon  an  occasion 
which  will  then  be  mentioned.  These  two  ministers  lived 
to  see   and  rejoice  in  the  glorious  work  of  divine  grace, 

'Douglas,  Vol.  II,  p.  378. 


[1715.]  LAW  FOR  MAINTAINING  AND  PROPAGATING  RELIGION.     481 

which  was  granted  in  New  England,  in  and  after  the  year 
1710.  Mr.  Moody  was  minister  at  York,  beyond  Piscataqua 
River.  He  preached  without  notes,  and  refused  to  be  sup- 
ported by  tax  and  compulsion  ;  and  was  the  most  powerful 
and  successful  preacher  of  almost  any  in  the  land  in  those 
days. 

Such  opposition  was  raised  against  Governor  Dudley,  that 
he  was  removed,  and  Dever  acted  with  our  Legislature  after 
August,  1715  ;  and  when  they  met  again  November  23,  with 
the  pliant  Lieutenant  Governor  Taylor  in  the  chair,  the  fol- 
lowing act  was  added  to  their  other  taxing  laws,  viz. : — 

An  act  for  maintaining  and  propagating  of  religion. 

Whereas  the  laws  of  this  province  have  made  good  and  wholesome  pro- 
vision, that  every  town  within  the  same  be  continually  supplied  with  an  able, 
learned,  orthodox  minister  or  ministers,  of  good  conversation,  to  dispense 
the  word  of  God  unto  them ;  and  that  such  minister  or  ministers  be  suita- 
bly encouraged,  and  sufficiently  supported  and  maintained,  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  such  towns  ;  for  the  rendering  the  said  laws  more  effectual,  and  to 
prevent  the  growth  of  atheism,  irreligion  and  profaneness :  Be  it  enacted 
and  ordained  by  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  Council,  and  Representatives, 
in  General  Court  assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  the 
Justices  of  the  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  within  the  several 
counties,  at  the  opening  of  their  Courts  from  time  to  time,  do  give  in  special 
charge  to  the  Grand  Jury,  to  make  diligent  inquiry  and  presentment  of  all 
towns  and  districts  within  such  county,  that  are  destitute  of  a  minister,  as 
by  law  is  directed  ;  and  of  such  towns  and  districts  that  neglect  to  fulfill 
their  contracts  and  agreements,  and  do  not  make  suitable  provision  for  the 
support  and  maintenance  of  their  minister  or  ministers  accordingly.  And 
upon  such  presentment,  complaint,  or  information  in  any  other  manner, 
the  Court  are  directed  and  required  vigorously  to  put  the  laws  in  execution, 
for  the  redressing  of  all  defects  and  neglects  of  that  kind,1  and  forthwith 
to  make  the  necessary  orders  to  that  end,  as  by  law  they  are  empowered. 
And  in  case  their  orders,  so  made,  be  not  duly  observed,  or  by  the  contriv- 
ance and  practice  of  ill  men  be  eluded  and  rendered  ineffectual ;  for  the 
speedy  remedying  and  reforming  of  so  great  an  evil,  the  Justices  of  such 
Court  are  to  represent  and  make  report  of  their  proceedings  unto  the  next 
session  of  the  General  Court  or  Assembly. 

'From  Scripture  and  all  experience  it  plainly  appears,  that  ministers  have  been 
as  often  guilty  of  defects  and  neglects  as  the  people ;  but  they  made  no  law  to  pun- 
ish ministers  therefor;  which  partiality  promoted  atheism  and  irreligion,  instead  of 
preventing  it. 
31 


48*2  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Upon  this  the  Assembly  were  to  send  a  minister,  recom- 
mended by  three  others,  to  every  such  town  or  district,  and 
to  provide  for  his  tk  honorable  maintenance,"  by  adding  a 
sufficient  sum  for  the  purpose  to  the  province  tax  upon  such 
places  ;  and  were  to  do  the  like  to  each  place  that  neglected 
to  fulfill  former  contracts  with  ministers  ;  as  also  to  "  sup- 
ply and  support  a  minister  in  places  that  are  destitute,  where 
the  Justices  neglect  their  duty."  All  which  sums  their  min- 
isters were  to  draw7  out  of  the  province  treasury.  This  act 
was  made  for  seven  years,  and  then  was  revived  and  con- 
tinued till  1730;  and  that  method  of  charging  the  Grand 
Jury  has  been  continued  ever  since. 

Rhode  Island  Colony  was  now  ruled  by  Governor  Crans- 
ton, and  Deputy  Governor  Jencks,  in  conjunction  with 
other  worthy  men,  under  whose  administration  they  enjoyed 
the  greatest  peace,  for  above  thirty  years,  that  they  ever  did 
since  they  were  a  distinct  government.  And  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  same,  and  to  prevent  any  society  or  sect 
from  trying  for  any  preeminence  in  the  government,  their 
Assembly  of  May  2,  1716,  enacted,  Ci  that  what  maintenance 
or  salary  may  be  thought  necessary  by  any  of  the  churches, 
congregations,  or  societies  of  people,  now  inhabiting,  or  that 
hereafter  shall  or  may  inhabit,  within  the  same,  for  the  sup- 
port of  their  respective  minister  or  ministers,  shall  be  raised 
by  free  contribution,  and  no  otberways."  This  law  is  still 
in  force  ;  and  we  shall  presently  hear  a  number  of  minis- 
ters commending  the  good  fruits  of  these  measures,  which 
yet  they  were  very  unwilling  to  come  into. 

President  Mather  published  another  piece  in  1716,  where- 
in he  says : — 

For  ministers  to  pretend  to  a  negative  voice  in  synods,  or  for  councils  to 
take  upon  them  to  determine  what  elders  or  messengers  a  church  shall 
submit  unto,  without  the  choice  of  the  church  concerned,  or  for  ministers 
to  pretend  to  be  members  of  a  council  without  any  mission  from  their 
churches,  nay,  although  the  church  declares  that  they  will  not  send  them, 
is  prelatical,  and  essentially  differing  not  only   from   Congregational,  but 


[1716.]  THE  MATHERS  AT  CALLENDER'S  ORDINATION.  483 

from  Presbyterian  principles.  And  now  that  I  am  going  out  of  the  world, 
I  could  not  die  in  peace,  if  I  did  not  discharge  my  conscience,  in  bearing 
witness  against  such  innovations  and  invasions  on  the  rights  and  privileges 
belonging  to  particular  congregations  of  Christ.1 

Yet  all  these  innovations  and  invasions  were  made  in  the 
Saybrook  scheme.  And  to  shew  that  brethren,  when  chosen 
by  the  church,  have  a  right  to  equal  votes  in  Councils  with 
elders,  he  says  : — 

There  are  mechanics,  who  although  they  do  not  excel  in  that  which  is 
called  human  learning,  are  well  versed  and  learned  in  the  Scriptures, 
spending  much  time  in  consulting  those  oracles  of  God,  and  being  men  of 
great  piety,  and  excellent  natural  accomplishments,  they  may  be  very  use- 
ful in  synods.  Ecclesiastical  historians  give  a  remarkable  account  of  what 
happened  in  the  Xicene  Synod.  A  pious  old  man,  who  was  no  clergyman, 
nor  exercised  philosophical  notions,  by  his  plain  discourse  did  more 
towards  the  conviction  of  an  heretical  philosopher,  than  all  the  learned 
bishops  in  the  Council  could  do.2 

These  things  naturally  led  him  and  his  brethren  into 
another  sort  of  behavior  towards  the  Baptists,  than  when 
he  was  Scribe  of  the  Synod  of  1769,  who  declared  that  they 
were  setting  up  their  posts  by  God's  posts  ;  which  moved 
the  Court  to  nail  up  the  doors  of  the  Baptist  meeting-house. 
For  Elder  Callender's  son  Elisha  was  added  to  the  church 
under  his  father's  care,  August  10,  1713  ;  after  which3  he 
was  educated  at  Harvard  College,  and  called  into  the  gospel 
ministry  ;  and,  as  President  Mather  had  expressed  his  will- 
ingness for  such  a  thing  to  Elder  Callender,  his  church  called 
the  President,  his  son,  and  Mr.  John  Webb,  to  assist  in 
ordaining  Mr.  Elisha   Callender,   as   pastor  of  the   Baptist 

1  Disquisition  concerning  Ecclesiastical  Councils,  Preface,  p.  13. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  19. 

3"His  son,  Elisha  Callender,  became  his  successor  in  the  pastoral  office.  He  had 
received  a  liberal  education  at  Harvard  College,  and  was  one  of  the  fourteen  stu- 
dents who  were  graduated  in  the  year  1710.     He  was  baptized  and  received  into  the 

church  August  10,  1713 Mr.  Backus  observes, that  Mr.  Callenaer  received 

his  education  at  Harvard  College  after  he  had  joined  the  church;  but  in  this  he 
must  be  mistaken.  Historical  Sketch  of  the  First  Baptist  church  in  Boston ;  James 
M.  Winchell;  p.  21.— Ed. 


484  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

church  in  Boston.  May  21,  1718.     And  Dr.  Cotton  Mather, 
in  the  .Ordination  Sermon,  said  : — 

It  is  very  sadly  true,  that  many  ecclesiastical  communities,  wherein  piety 
has  its  votaries,  yet  are  guilty  of  this  evil,  that  they  impose  terms  of  com- 
munion which  many  that  have  the  fear  of  God,  are,  by  just  exceptions, 
kept  from  complying  withal.  Now  in  this  unhappy  case  what  is  to  be 
done?  Do  this  ;  let  good  men  go  as  far  as  they  can  without  sin,  in  holding 
communion  with  one  another.  But  where  sinful  terms  are  imposed,  there 
let  them  make  their  stops  ;  there  a  separation  becomes  a  duty  ;  there  the 
injunction  of  heaven  upon  them  is,  4l  Be  ye  separate  saith  the  Lord,  and 
touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I  will  receive  you."  The  imposers  are 
the  schismatics.  There  have  been  many  attempts  to  unite  people  in  forms 
and  terms,  that  are  not  the  pure  maxims  of  living  uuto  God  ;  and  so  to 
build  the  tower  of  Zion  on  a  foundation  which  is  not  the  tried  stone  and 
the  precious,  and  so  not  the  sure  foundation.  There  has  hitherto  been  a 
blast  from  heaven  upon  all  these  attempts  ;  they  have  miscarried,  as  being 
rather  calculated  for  the  tower  of  Babel.  New  England  also  has,  in  some 
former  times,  done  something  of  this  aspect,  which  would  not  now  be  so 
well  approved  of;  in  which,  if  the  brethren,  in  whose  house  we  are  now 
convened,  met  with  any  thing  too  unbrotherly,  they  now  witli  satisfaction 
hear  us  expressing  our  dislike  of  every  thing  that  looked  like  persecution 
in  the  days  that  have  passed  over  us.1 

The  case  of  a  member  who  soon  after  joined  that  church, 
I  think  proper  here  to  mention.  Samuel  Jennings,  Esq., 
was  born  in  Sandwich,  in  the  county  of  Barnstable,  Febru- 
ary 19,  1685,  where  he  lived  till  he  was  above  eighteen  years 
old,  and  then  went  a  voyage  to  sea,  where  he  was  pressed 
on  board  a  man-of-war.  But  meeting  with  very  ill  treatment 
there  for  five  months,  he,  in  the  evening  of  March  26,  1704, 
the  ship  being  in  a  bay  at  Barbados,  attempted  to  make  his 
escape  therefrom  by  swimming  ;  but  by  the  way  he  was 
seized  and  hauled  under  water  by  a  shark.  A  terrible  case 
indeed !  Yet,  as  he  cried  to  God  for  help,  the  venomous 
creature  let  him  go,  and  his  life  was  preserved,  with  the  loss 
only  of  a  part  of  a  foot  and  an  arm.2     He  returned,  married, 

'See  pp.  420,  422. 

*"  I  had  not  swum  far  before  I  saw  a  shark,  just  as  he  took  hold  of  my  Left  hand. 

He  pulled  me  under  water  in  a  moment I  thought  of  a  knife  I  used  to  carry  in 

my  pocket,  but  remembered  I  left  it  on   board.     Then  I  kicked  him  several  times 


[1718,]  ACCOUNT  OF  SAMUEL  JENNINGS.  485 

and  lived  in  good  repute  in  his  native  town,  which  he  rep- 
resented several  times  in  our  Legislature.  After  he  had 
served  them  two  years  in  that  office,  he  wrote  as  follows  con- 
cerning his  soul  affairs.     Says  he  : — 

Though  I  had  heard  much  preaching,  and  read  many  books,  to  support 
the  baptizing  of  infants,  and  had  never  read  any  books,  or  discoursed  on 
that  head  with  any  that  were  against  it,  yet  I  found  so  much  in  the  Scrip- 
ture to  the  contrary,  that  I  could  Dot  believe  it  to  be  right.  Notwithstand- 
ing I  went  to  several  ministers,  and  discoursed  [with]  them  on  that  point 
to  get  light,  and  also  prayed  to  God  to  direct  me  in  the  right  way  ;  yet  still 
it  appeared  to  me  unscriptural  and  erroneous.  Then  I  went  to  Mr.  Cal- 
lender,  the  Baptist  minister  at  Boston,  who  not  only  discoursed  with  me, 
but  lent  me  books  set  out  by  those  of  his  persuasion,  to  support  the  truth 
thereof;  which  when  I  had  read,  I  found  so  agreeable  with  the  Scriptures, 
and  with  the  apprehensions  I  before  had  from  them,  that  I  quickly  sought 
to  be  admitted  into  the  communion  of  that  church  at  Boston.  And  having 
made  a  verbal  profession,  before  the  church  and  congregation,  I  was  bap- 
tized (that  is,  dipped  in  the  water)  by  Mr.  Elisha  Callender,  minister  of 
the  gospel,  on  the  9th  day  of  June,  1718,  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  my 
age.  And  truly  I  may  say,  as  is  said  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  that  I  came 
away  rejoicing.  In  a  short  time  after,  I  arrived  to  a  considerable  degree  of 
bodily  health,  which  I  had  lacked  for  eight  years  before. 

He  served  his  town  afterwards  as  their  Representative,  and 
in  other  offices  ;  and,  without  his  seeking,  a  commission  of 
Justice  of  the  Peace  was  sent  him,  which,  for  some  reasons, 
he  chose  not  to  accept.  He  continued  a  member  of  said 
church  in  Boston  till  his  death  in  1764. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Callender  was  ordained,  he  opened  a  cor- 
respondence with  friends  in  London,  which,  with  other 
means,  had  very  great  and  extensive  effects.     Thomas  Hollis, 

with  my  right  foot,  but  that  proving  ineffectual,  I  set  ray  foot  against  his  mouth,  in- 
tending to  haul  my  hand  away  or  to  haul  it  off.  Then  he  opened  his  mouth  a  little 
and  took  part  of  my  foot  into  his  mouth  with  my  hand  and  held  them  both.  Then  I 
cried  to  God  mentally  that  he  would  have  mercy  on  my  soul,  which  I  thought  would 
soon  be  separated  from  my  body,  but  still  did  not  cease  striving,  but  punched  him. 
with  my  right  hand,  though  to  little  purpose.  At  last,  being  almost  drowned,  for  I 
was  all  this  while  under  water,  I  had  almost  left  off  striving,  and,  expecting  nothing 
but  present  death,  all  at  once  my  hand  and  foot  came  loose,  and  I  got  up  to  the  top 
of  the  water,  and,  having  cleared  my  stomach  of  water,  I  called  out  for  help,  and 
swam  towards  the  nearest  ship."  Extract  from  -'A  Narrative  of  the  Wonderful  Es- 
cape of  Samuel  Jennings ;"  Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  Papers. — Ed. 


486  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Esq.,  one  of  the  most  liberal  men  upon  earth,  had  some  ac- 
quaintance with  President  Mather,  when  he  was  agent  for 
this  province  in  England  ;*  and  now,  receiving  accounts  of 
the  transactions  and  catholic  sentiments  that  were  delivered 
at  the  ordination  of  a  Baptist  minister  in  Boston,  who  was 
educated  at  Harvard  College,  he  became  the  greatest  bene- 
factor thereto  that  they  have  ever  had  to  this  day. 

"  Nor  yet  to  Harvard  all  his  views  confin'd ; 
His  active  soul  still  nobler  work  designed. 
A  kingdom's  welfare  dwelt  on  ev'ry  thought ; 
For  gen'ral  good  his  heav'nly  candor  wrought  ; 
To  public  peace  his  prudent  schemes  invite, 
Faction  to  quell,  and  clashing  sects  unite."2 

With  or  near  his  first  donation  to  the  College,  came  the 
following  letter  from  a  minister  of  his  acquaintance  to  his 
friend  in  Boston  : — 

London,  March  9,  1720. 
Much  esteemed  Brother  Callender  : — I  thank  you  kindly  for  the  par- 
ticular account  you  gave  me  in  your  last ;  and  I  cannot  but  lament  the  sad 
consequences  of  sin,  and  the  great  degrees  of  it  which  remain,  even  in 
God's  own  people  ;  for  surely  the  greatest  part,  if  not  all  those  who  suf- 
fered so  much  for  their  religion  at  home,  and  at  last  left  their  native  coun- 
try, and  run  such  great  hazards  as  they  did  for  the  sake  of  their  con- 
sciences, must,  in  the  judgment  of  charity,  be  esteemed  the  faithful  servants 
of  Christ.  But  when  I  consider  the  methods  which  these  took,  or  encour- 
aged others  to  take,  with  those  who  differed  from  them  in  matters  not 
fundamental,  I  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  depth  of  folly  which  remains  with 
us,  that  any  body  of  men  should  so  soon  and  so  zealously  pursue  those  very 
methods  which  they  had  so  justly  condemned,  and  so  greatly  suffered  by! 
It  is  a  consideration  enough  to  check  the  towering  thoughts  of  vain  man, 
and   to  shew  the  reasonableness  of  the   apostolical  advice,   "  Let  him  that 

'Increase  Mather's  Life,  p.  170. — B. 

The  words  here  referred  to  in  the  Life  of  Mather,  (l'arentator,  &c.,)  are  as  fol- 
lows :—  "  When  he  went  over  to  England  he  carried  his  care  of  his  beloved  College 
with  him.  Among  other  expressions  of  it,  he  procured  some  valuable  donations  to 
it.  Yea,  it  was  his  acquaintance  with,  and  his  proposal  to,  that  good-spirited  man 
and  lover  of  all  good  men,  Mr.  Thomas  Bollis,  that  introduced  his  benefaction! 
unto  that  College,  to  which  his  incomparable  bounty  has  anon  flowed  unto  such  a 
degree  as  to  render  him  the  greatest  benefactor  it  ever  had  in  the  world."— Ed. 

2Kudd's  Poem  on  Ilollis's  Death,  p.  29. 


[1720.]  WALLIN'S  LETTER  TO  CALLENDER.  487 

thiuketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall ;"  for  I  think  we  are  but  too  sub- 
ject to  the  lesser  degrees  of  this  temper  and  carriage,  in  almost  every  sta- 
tion of  life.  For  though  there  is  so  good  an  understanding  among  the 
three  denominations  of  dissenters,  viz.,  Presbyterians,  Independents  and 
Baptists  ;  yet  we  have  too  many  who  are  whisperers  and  backbiters,  who, 
by  magnifying  the  weaknesses,  or  diminishing  the  real  worth  and  useful- 
ness of  those  who  differ  from  them,  shew  that  this  spirit,  as  much  as  it  is 
destroyed,  is  yet  too  much  alive,  and,  were  it  clothed  with  power,  would 
soon  be  formidable.  But  our  wise  and  gracious  Governor  makes  the  weak- 
nesses and  wrath  of  men  to  praise  him,  and  the  remainder  thereof  he  doth 
restrain. 

As  I  heartily  rejoice  that  the  Lord  hath  preserved  the  baptized  church,  at 
Boston,  through  so  many  difficulties,  so  I  am  glad  he  hath  raised  up  to  them 
one  so  able  and  willing  to  promote  the  public  good  among  them.  May  the 
Lord  succeed  you,  my  dear  brother,  that  so  peace  and  truth  may  spread 
and  flourish  in  your  days  !  I  am  indeed  troubled  at  the  paucity1  of  those 
of  our  denomination,  in  New  England  ;  though  I  cannot  wonder  at  it,  con- 

"  TO  '  O 

sidering  the  treatment  they  have  geuerally  met  with.  I  am  grieved  that 
any  who  profess  the  plain  Scripture  baptism  should  bring  it  into  contempt, 
by  holding  with  it  such  wild  and  unscriptural  opinions  ;  but  so  it  hath  been 
with  us,  and  yet  remains  ;  though  I  think  the  number  of  such  is  dimin- 
ished, -within  a  few  years  last  past.  But  although  we  have  but  few  Soul- 
sleepers  or  Sabbatarians,  &c,  yet  the  number  of  those  that  plead  for  gen- 
eral redemption,  and  some  other  of  the  distinctive  notions  of  Arminius, 
seem  to  increase  among  us.  However,  they  seem  not  quite  so  rigid  and 
uncharitable  as  formerly,  and  there  is,  I  hope,  the  greatest  number  of  our 
denomination  free  from  these  things.  As  to  the  method  of  educating  vouth 
among  you,  it  must  be  allowed,  that  the  design  seemed  to  be  well  laid  for  pro- 
moting useful  knowledge  ;  and  I  hope  your  college  will  be  improved  to  a 
very  great  advantage  ;  but  I  find  you  have  to  lament,  what  we  are  not 
strangers  to,  viz.,  that  those  things  which  in  themselves  are  good,  and  tend 
to  fit  persons  for  more  extensive  usefulness,  are  made  necessary  for  a  per- 
son in  order  to  the  ministry,  or  should  be  thought,  at  any  time,  to  be  a  suf- 
ficient qualification  for  so  great  a  work.  Surely  a  man  blessed  with  a  good 
natural  genius,  who  has  been  brought  to  a  true  sense  of  sin,  and  the  saviug 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  though  he  should  want  the  advantage  of  hu- 
man literature,  must  be  better  capable  than  one  that  has  it,  and  is  destitute 
of  the  other,  to  guide  souls  into  the  ways  of  salvation  ;  because,  as  he 
knows  something  of  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  and  the  wiles  of  Satan,  so  he 
is  more  capable  to  comfort  poor  souls  in  distress,  with  the  comforts  where- 
with he  himself  has  been  comforted  of  God.  Therefore,  though  I  have  a 
high  esteem  for  human  learning,  and  wish  every  minister  had  the  advan- 

'Fewness  in  number. 


488  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tage  of  a  good  degree  of  it,  yet  I  conceive  it  is  far  from  being  necessary  to 
a  man's  being  employed  in  the  public  ministry,  and  much  less  do  I  think 
it,  in  itself,  a  qualification  sufficient  for  so  weighty  an  undertaking.  You 
will  excuse  me  for  so  freely  declaring  my  mind  upon  this  head. 

Before  this  comes  to  hand,  I  hope  you  will  have  received  a  letter,  sub- 
scribed, Thomas  Ilollis.  This  worthy  gentleman  is  my  very  good  friend, 
and  one  who,  with  his  plentiful  estate,  has  done  much  good  among  poor 
ministers  and  churches  here  ;  and  I  hope  New  England  will  find  yet  more 
happy  effects  of  his  liberality,  and  that,  with  your  kind  assistance  in  find- 
ing and  procuring  proper  objects,  something  may  be  done  by  him  for  the 
particular  encouragement  of  our  denomination.  For,  in  conversing  with 
him  upon  this  head,  he  desired  me  to  intimate  to  you,  that  he  shall  be  well 
pleased,  if  you  can  find  a  proper  person  of  the  Baptist  persuasion,  for  him 
to  recommend  to  the  governors  of  the  college  ;  and  I  doubt  not  but  he  will 
give  some  further  eucouragement  to  such  an  one,  who  is  desirous  to  be 
qualified  for  public  usefulness.  I  entreat  you  therefore  to  turn  your 
thoughts  to  this  subject,  and  give  me  a  line,  so  soon  as  you  have  found  a 
fit  person,  that  so  good  a  work  as  this  may  be  begun.  I  am  ready  to  be- 
lieve, that,  besides  Mr.  Hollis's  interest  with  the  governors,  in  behalf  of  a 
hopeful  young  man,  who  is  of  our  persuasion,  he  may  be  prevailed  upon  to 
allow  ten  pounds  per  annum,  of  your  money,1  towards  defraying  the  charges 
of  the  college  ;  which  will  be  some  eucouragement  for  one,  who,  with 
promising  natural  parts,  is  desirous  to  devote  himself  to  study,  in  order  to 
fit  himself  for  public  usefulness,  but  is  not  well  able  to  go  through  the 
charge.  I  leave  this  with  you,  and  pray  God  to  direct  you.  You  will  find 
a  copy  of  Mr.  Hollis's  to  you  ;  to  which  I  have  added  a  catalogue  of  the 
chest  of  books  therein  meutioned  ;  and  if  any  are  not  disposed  of  to  the 
college  library,  yourself,  &c,  that  then  you  would  use  your  interest  to  ob- 
tain some  of  them  for  Mr.  Daniel  White.2  When  you  have  read  Mr. 
Neal's  History  of  New  England,  I  desire  you  to  give  me  your  thoughts  of 
it  in  general ;  and  if  you  find  anything  in  it  which  deserves  to  be  taken  no- 
tice of,  in  order  to  be  altered  in  a  second  edition,  pray  freely  communicate 
it  to  me,  and  I  will  do  the  same  to  the  author,  who  is  a  very  honest  gen- 
tleman, and  will  be  glad  to  be  set  right,  in  any  thing  wherein  he  may  have 
been  mistaken.  Just  now  a  gentleman  has  been  with  me,  whose  name  is 
Spurier,  who  hath  brought  some,  hundred  tons  of  silver  ore  from  New  Eng- 
land, and  desires  me  to  assist  him  in  presenting  a  petition  to  the  govern- 
ment, for  eucouragement.3     If  you  have  heard  any  thing  of  any  late  dis- 

': Mexican  silver  was  then  about  thirteen  shillings  per  ounce,  in  our  money.  Doug- 
las. Vol.  I,  p.  494. 

2]\Ir.  White  came  over  from  Mr.  Wallin's  church  two  years  before,  and  was  then 
preaching  at  Newport.     Mr.  Neal's  history  first  came  over  this  year. 

"Great  fraud  and  Iniquity  was  practised  in  the  nation,  about  such  things,  in  the 
year  1720. 


[1720.]  LETTER  FROM  BOSTON  CHURCH  TO  LONDON.  489 

coveries  made  of  silver  mines  with  you,  or  any  thing  of  the  character  of 
the  man,  or  what  notion  the  people  have  of  it,  and  will  please  to  give  me  a 
line,  it  may  be  of  use  to  me  ;  for,  as  I  would  willingly  serve  any  honest 
man,  according  to  my  ability,  so  I  would  gladly  know  the  persons  I  move 
for.  I  am  now  obliged  to  conclude  at  present,  and  with  all  my  heart  com- 
mend you  to  God  and  the  word  of  his  grace,  which  is  able  and  I  hope  will 
build  you  up  in  all  things.  May  the  Lord  be  with  you,  and  the  church  of 
Christ  under  your  care,  causing  all  blessings  to  abound  towards  you  in  all 
things.     So  rests  your  cordial  friend,  and  unworthy  brother  in  the  Lord's 

vine^ard'  Edward  Wallin. 

Before  this  came  to  hand,  our  friends  here  had  sent  a  let- 
ter directed  thus  :  "  The  church  of  Christ  at  Boston,  in  New 
England,  of  the  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel,  baptizing 
visible  believers  upon  the  profession  of  their  faith,  and 
believing  the  principles  of  a  particular  election  of  a  certain 
number,  who  shall  continue  in  the  perseverance  in  grace ; 
unto  the  several  churches  of  Christ  that  are  in  the  same 
faith  and  order  of  the  gospel,  in  London,  do  heartily  desire 
your  increase  and  growth  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord 
Jesus,  and  in  all  the  graces  of  his  Holy  Spirit."  They  go 
on  to  give  an  account  of  the  first  rise  of  their  church,  which 
say  they,  "  Several  wise  and  learned  men  endeavored,  but 
could  not  accomplish  it ;  however,  God  was  pleased  to  suc- 
ceed the  endeavors  of  our  brethren,  who  were  not  so  accom- 
plished with  acquired  parts  and  abilities,  by  enduring,  and 
to  appear  for  them  under  all  their  troubles,  so  that  we  con- 
tinue,  through  rich  grace,  a   church  unto  this  day."1     By 

^his  letter  is  preserved,  and,  we  judge,  is  of  sufficient  interest  to  warrant  its 
publication. 

"The  church  of  Christ  at  Boston  in  New  England,  of  the  faith  and  order  of  the 
gospel,  baptizing  visible  believers  upon  the  profession  of  their  faith,  and  believing 
the  principles  of  a  particular  election  of  a  certain  number,  who  shall  likewise  con- 
tinue in  their  perseverance  in  grace  ;  unto  the  several  churches  of  Christ  that  are  in 
the  same  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel  in  London,  do  heartily  desire  your  increase 
and  growth  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  in  all  the  graces  of  his  Holy 
Spirit. 

"Honored  and  dearly  beloved  friends  and  brethren;  we  take  this  freedom  of  writ- 
ing these  few  lines  to  acquaint  you  with  the  circumstances  of  our  condition,  whereby 
there  may  be  a  sympathy  which  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  promotes  in  Christians  at  a 


490  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS'IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

those  wise  and  learned  men,  I  suppose  they  intended  Presi- 
dent Dunstar  and  some  with  him,  who  did  not  accomplish 
what  Elder  Gould  and  his  brethren  did.  One  design  of  this 
letter  was  to  request  some  assistance  in  enlarging  and  repair- 
ing their  meeting-house  ;  and  it  occasioned  the  following 
answer : — 

London,  August  3,  1720. 
Dear  and  honored  brother  Callender  :  I  received  the  honor  of 
the  church's  and  your  letter  together,  by  Captain  Lawrence.  After  I  had 
a  little  considered  the  contents  of  both,  I  waited  upon  our  honored  friend, 
Mr.  Thomas  Hollis,  with  the  case,  with  whom  I  left  it ;  and  some  little 
time  after,  he  told  me,  that  himself  and  brother,  Mr.  John  Hollis,  would 
advance  some  money  to  repair  your  meeting-house,  upon  condition  I  would 
prevail  with  my  brethren,  concerned  in  our  little  fund,  to  make  a  present 

distance.  It  pleased  the  Lord,  by  his  divine  and  wise  disposing  providence,  to  spirit 
a  small  number  of  men  who  were  very  gracious  and  enlightened  in  the  knowledge 
of  his  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  to  appear  for  the  vindication  thereof,  and  to  en- 
courage them  for  their  gathering  into  a  church  in  the  way  and  order  of  the  gospel  as 
above  mentioned,  which  several  wise  and  learned  men  endeavored  but  could  not 
accomplish  it.  However,  God  was  pleased  to  succeed  the  endeavors  of  our  breth- 
ren who  were  not  so  accomplished  with  acquired  parts  and  abilities  by  learning,  and 
to  appear  for  them  under  all  the  troubles  and  difficulties  they  were  exposed  unto  ; 
And  when  we  were  favored  with  our  liberty  by  virtue  of  the  King's  letter  to  the  gov- 
ernment, it  pleased  the  Lord  to  put  it  into  our  hearts  and  to  encourage  us  to  build  a 
meeting-house  for  the  worship  of  our  God;  which  is  now  about  forty  years  since. 
And  when  we  lost  our  elders,  such  as  were  accomplished  for  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try in  so  public  a  place,  we  made  our  application  to  the  churches  in  London,  and 
unto  Mr.  Gifford,  in  that,  if  it  were  possible,  we  might  have  had  a  man  suitable  for 
the  work  of  the  ministry  sent  over  to  us,  but  could  never  obtain  any;  so  that  we 
were  forced  or  necessitated  to  make  use  of  our  brethren  for  the  upholding  of  our 
church  and  meeting.  And  now,  God  hath  been  graciously  pleased  to  raise  up  one 
amongst  ourselves,  viz.,  a  son  of  one  of  our  brethren  whom  he  hath  brought  up  to 
learning,  and  whom  God  hath  been  pleased  so  to  succeed  with  his  blessing,  as  to 
Bpirit  him  with  grace  and  principles  and  also  to  accomplish  him  with  not  only 
acquired  parts  and  abilities  but,  we  hope  we  may  truly  say,  also  with  gracious  quali- 
fications for  the  work  and  service  of  the  Lord  among  us.  And  this  is  our  present 
concernment,  that,  having,  by  the  blessing  of  our  God  upon  us,  obtained  this  bless- 
ing of  a  minister  to  break  the  bread  of  life  to  us,  our  meeting-house  which,  by  rea- 
son of  so  long  standing,  has  gone  much  to  decay,  requires  repairing,  and,  being  but 
a  email  company  here  in  this  town,  and  some  of  our  small  number,  by  reason  of 
age,  requiring  relief,  and  those  few  of  our  brethren  that  live  in  this  town  being  such 
as  God  is  pleased  to  make  his  choice  amongst,  as  mentioned  in  the  2d  of  James,  5th 
verse,  we  take  this  boldness  of  acquainting  you  therewith,  that  if  the  Lord  may  be 
pleased  to  incline  the  hearts  of  our  dear  and  well  beloved  brethren  with  you,  in  the 
several  churches,  to  afford  us  a  small  matter  of  your  assistance  towards  the  repair- 


[1720.]  WALLIN'S  LETTER  TO  CALLENDER.  491 

to  Mr.  Callender,  as  a  token  of  our  Christian  respects  to  him.  The  motion 
pleased  me  well ;  I  willingly  undertook  my  part,  and  happily  accomplished 
it,  though  it  were  out  of  the  common  way  of  our  exhibitions  ;  and  by  the 
time  this  conies  to  hand,  I  hope  you  will  find  remitted  by  Mr.  Hollis  what  I 
hope  will  fully  answer  the  church's  request,  together  with  a  small  present, 
which  I  hope  will  not  be  unacceptable,  to  my  brother  Callender  himself, 
and  show  at  least  our  concern  for  the  good  of  the  baptized  interest  in  Bos- 
ton, though  we  may  not  be  capable  to  promote  it  in  that  measure  we  heart- 
ily desire. 

Concerning  the  state  of  the  Arian  controversy  with  us,  and  our  minis- 
ters' concern  therein,  I  shall  briefly  relate  the  whole,  as  follows.  Some  few 
years  ago  one  Dr.  Clarke,1  of  the  established  church,  a  gentleman  of 
deserved  reputation,  wrote  a  book,  entitled,  The  Scripture  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity  ;  in  which  he  endeavors  (after  very  high  expressions  of  the  dignity 
of  the  Redeemer's  person  and  nature)  to  deny  him  to  be  a  necessary,  self- 
existent  being ;  which  is  construed  by  his  adversaries  as  a  consequential 
denying  his  proper  divinity,  and  a  degrading  our  Saviour  into  a  subordi- 
ate  God,  notwithstanding  all  he  hath  offered  in  honor  to  this  hope  of  a 
true  Christian.  This  made  a  great  stir,  and  set  many  pens  to  work  ;  some 
for  and  some  against  the  Doctor's  notions,  among  several  of  note  in  the 
church  of  England,  and  others  ;  some  of  whom  I  think  carried  the  point 
much  further  than  the  Doctor  appears  to  have  designed.  I  wish  the  con- 
test had  always  continued  in  the  established  church  ;  but  a  little  time 
carried  it  among  the  dissenters,  and  one  Mr.  Pierce,  a  Presbyterian  minis- 
ter, of  ingenuity,  and  considerable  note,  among  others,  espoused  Dr. 
Clarke's  notions  openly  (if  he  went  no  further.)  The  debates,  pro  and  cow, 
began  to  be  managed  with  warmth,  not  only  in  the  city,  but  in  divers  parts 
of  the  country.  But  Mr.  Pierce  being  a  man  of  so  much  note,  and  a  min- 
ister in  the  city  of  Exeter,  where  the  Presbyterian  interest  is  in  much 
credit,  he  was  the  first  person  who  was  very  publicly  noted  among  the  dis- 
senters. His  people  (after  some  considerable  time,  and  several  methods 
used  to  accommodate  matters)  proposed  parting  with  him,  as  a  man  not 
sound  in  the  faith.  This  occasioned  each  party  to  advise  with  their  friends 
in  the  ministry,  and  others,  what  to  do  in  the  case.     Some   of  the  persons 

ing  of  our  meeting-house,  we  conclude  it  would  be  a  good  work  of  charity  and 
redound  to  your  honor  here  and  to  your  good  account  in  the  day  of  retribution.  If 
amongst  the  several  churches,  it  might  he  but  to  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  and 
laid  out  there  with  what  may  be  suitable  for  this  place,  it  would  be  treble  that  money 
here,  and  would  find  a  welcome  and  a  thankful  acceptance  with  us.  This,  with  our 
prayers  that  God  would  direct  and  bless  you  in  all  your  concerns,  and  multiply  your 
numbers,  and  increase  in  you  all  the  graces  of  his  Holy  Spirit;  and  desiring  like- 
wise your  prayers,  for  the  like  mercies  for  us,  we  remain  your  brethren  in  gospel 
bonds."  Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  papers. — Ed. 
Samuel  Clarke,  D.  D. 


492  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

wrote  to  upon  this  account,  (which  were  not  a  few)  thought  that  Mr. 
Pierce  had  given  too  much  cause  for  his  people  to  believe  that  he  had  de- 
parted from  the  orthodox  faith,  in  relation  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 
Others,  though  they  did  not  deny  this,  yet  apprehended  his  people  had  not 
dealt  bo  kindly  by  him  in  this  matter  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  by  a  man 
of  his  character  and  usefulness. 

The  case  was  some  time  before  a  committee  of  ministers  and  gentlemen 
of  the  three  denominations  in  London,  to  see  if  they  could  find  a  way  to 
accommodate  matters  at  Exeter,  and  prevent  divisions  upon  the  same 
account  in  other  places  ;  but  they  were  not  all  of  one  mind.  Then  the 
whole  body  of  ministers  in  and  about  London  was  called  together,  and  a 
paper  of  advices,  proposed  to  be  considered  of  in  order  to  sign,  for  accom- 
modating matters  at  Exeter.  Some  of  the  ministers,  who  were  zealously 
concerned  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  at  the  same  time  proposed,  that  a 
declaration  of  our  faith,  with  respect  to  that  important  doctrine  of  the 
Christian  religion,  should  be  signed,  and  sent  down  with  the  advices  ;  but, 
upon  a  division  of  the  ministers,  it  was  rejected  by  a  majority  of  about 
five  persons.  It  was  then  agreed  at  the  next  meeting  to  consider  the  paper 
of  advices,  paragraph  by  paragraph  ;  at  which  meeting  were  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  ministers  of  three  denominations,  who  placed  your  poor 
friend  in  the  chair.  That  part  who  were  against  signing  a  declaration  of 
faith,  as  above,  earnestly  insisted  upon  proceeding  directly  to  read  the 
paper  of  advices,  as  supposing  it  to  be  the  immediate  work  of  the  meeting  ; 
the  other  side  proposed  that  article  in  the  church  of  England  which  relates 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  those  answers  in  the  Assembly's  Cate- 
chism to  the  same  purpose,  to  be  subscribed  by  the  London  ministers, 
before  they  proceeded  to  consider  the  paper  of  advices.  Warm  debates 
there  were  indeed  for  two  or  three  hours,  when  on  a  sudden  those  brethren 
who  resolved  to  subscribe  those  articles  withdrew  into  the  gallery  ;  which, 
however  just  their  zeal  might  be  for  the  truth  contended  for,  was  not 
looked  upon  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  breaking  up  the  meeting  at  that 
time.  So,  after  some  messages  sent  from  the  one  part  to  the  other,  those 
above  proceeded  to  subscribe  those  articles,  as  containing  their  sentiments 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  ever-blessed  Trinity  ;  and  the  other  proceeded  to 
consider  the  paper  of  advices,  and  drew  up  a  general  article  of  their  faith 
as  to  that  doctrine,  which  was  signed  by  their  moderator  by  appointment. 
This  they  sent  to  Exeter  ;  while  the  others  drew  up  another  set  of  advices, 
and  sent  down  with  the  articles  they  had  subscribed,  and  henceforward  we 
came  under  the  distinguishing  characters  of  subscribers  and  non-subscribers, 
which  distinction  I  fear  will  be  too  long  remembered  by  us,  for  the  com- 
mon benefit  of  true  religion. 

Some  of  the  too  warm  among  the  non-subscribers  would  fain  fix  the 
odious  charge  of  persecution   on  the  other,  while  they  again,  with   full  as 


[1720.]  WALLIN'S  LETTER  TO  CALLENDER.  493 

much  warmth,  would  flx  the  charge  of  Arianism  upon  them.  But  this 
severity  is  not  allowed  by  the  greatest  part  of  either  side  of  the  question  ; 
and  I  hope  time  will  produce  a  better  temper  in  both  parties  ;  but  at  pre- 
sent the  matter  is  not  accommodated,  nor  so  good  a  harmony  among  the 
ministers  as  could  be  heartily  wished.  As  I  am  satisfied  that  some  among 
the  non-subscribers  are  gone  too  far  into  some  of  the  distinctive  notions  of 
Arius,  so  I  think  some  of  the  subscribers  have  given  too  much  ground  of 
jealousy,  that  they  intended  to  set  up  those  forms  as  a  test  of  ortho- 
doxy, and  the  signing  of  them  as  necessary  to  persons  being  acceptable  and 
useful  in  the  ministry.  But  I  dare  say  for  the  much  greater  part  of  both 
sides,  that  they  intended  no  evil  to  their  differing  brethren  ;  and  that  it 
was  a  zeal  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  and  the  real  divinity  of  our  Sav- 
iour, which  made  some  subscribe  the  articles,  and  not  any  desire  to  impose 
upon  others  ;  and  that  those  who  refused  the  subscription,  did  it  with  a 
design  to  maintain  Christian  liberty,  rather  than  any  design  to  encourage 
or  promote  Arianism.  There  is  no  great  difference  in  the  number  of  either 
side  ;  but  I  think  there  are  not  so  many  of  our  denomination  among  the 
non-subscribers  as  are  on  the  other  side  ;  and  though  I  cannot  say  that 
there  are  none  of  our  ministers  who  too  much  favor  the  new  scheme,  yet  I 
may  venture  to  say  in  general,  that  our  ministers,  especially  those  of  the 
Particular  denomination,1  are  sound  in  the  faith,  as  to  the  real  divinity  of 
Christ,  and  the  true  doctrine  of  the  blessed  Trinity.  Therefore  those  who 
upbraid  you  with  their  being  contrary,  act  either  from  prejudice  or  misin- 
formation. But  such  have  been  the  visible  consequences  of  this  differ- 
ence, that  brotherly  love  and  charity,  that  indispensible  ornament  of  the 
Christian  religion,  have  been  greatly  lost  in  the  debates.  May  the  Lord 
increase  light  and  love,  as  well  as  zeal  and  faithfulness,  among  all  the  dis- 
ciples of  our  blessed  Redeemer.     So  I  must  have  done.     The  Lord  be  with 

you  and  yours.  -r,  w 

J  J  Edward   Wallin. 

Mr.  James  Peirce,  above  referred  to,  was  ejected  from  his 
church,  in  March,  1719  ;  but  a  party  followed  him,  and 
built  another  meeting-house  for  him,  in  the  city  of  Exeter ; 
to  encourage  whom,  he  declared  his  expectation,  that  by 
what  they  suffered,  "  the  spirit  of  imposition  and  persecu- 
tion would  be  rendered  more  odious."  And  he  accused  that 
church  of  attempting  to  set  up  an  Inquisition,  only  because 
they  brought  on  such  a  trial  as  constrained  him  to  own  his 
new  opinions,  which   caused  his  removal  from  a  profitable 

JThose  who  hold  to  particular  election. 


494  IIISTOKY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

living.1  Mr.  Benjamin  Wallin,  son  and  successor  in  office 
to  Mr.  Edward,  published  an  excellent  little  volume  upon 
the  Sonship  of  Christ,  in  1771,  wherein  he  informs  us,  that 
ever  since  the  above-mentioned  time,  creeds  and  catechisms 
have  been  cried  down,  and  a  regular  Christian  education 
much  neglected,  under  a  pretence  of  reason  and  liberty. 
And  America  has  been  much  infected  with  the  same  distem- 
per. But  it  is  not  all  traditions  and  human  creeds  that  such 
men  reject,  as  the  following  extract  from  Peirce  plainly 
shews.  Under  an  appearance  of  a  great  regard  to  the 
Scriptures,  he  published  a  catechism,  wherein  the  answers 
were  in  Scripture  words  ;  part  of  which  say : — 

Question.  How  many  Gods  are  there?  Answer.  There  is  one  God. 
Q.  Who  is  this  God?  A.  Though  there  be  that  are  called  Gods,  whether 
in  heaven  or  in  earth,  (as  there  be  gods  many  and  lords  many,)  yet  to  us 
there  is  but  one  God,  the  Father,  of  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  for  him. 
One  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you 
all.    I  Cor.  viii.  5,  6  ;  Eph.  iv.  6. 

This  creed  is  so  far  from  delivering  any  from  the  tyranny 
of  human  inventions,  that  where  the  Scripture  puts  no  more 
than  a  semicolon  between  the  mention  of  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  Peirce  puts  a  period  and  three  pages  in  his  book.  And 
when  he  comes  to  speak  of  the  Son,  he  picks  out  words  that 
speak  of  his  subjection  and  obedience  to  the  Father,  exclud- 
ing those  which  assert  his  equality  with  him,  which  are 
many.2  Whereas,  if  we  leave  out  the  succession  of  time, 
and  the  mode  or  manner  wherein  earthly  relations  commence, 
which  have  no  place  in  the  Deity,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  of  a 
Father  and  Son  of  equal  capacity  and  excellency  ;  with  such 
a  oneness  in  nature,  and  peculiarity  of  relation,  as  no  others 
have  ;  and  also  that  one  may,  by  voluntary  contract,  subject 
himself  to  another  for  wise  purposes,  and  take  upon  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  yet  remain  perfectly  equal  in  nature. 
How  unreasonable  then  are  those  great  pretenders  to  reason, 
who  profess  to  take  the  Scriptures  as  their  rule,  and  yet  re- 

'Pierce's  Works,  printed  1728,  pp.  115,  136.  sIbid,  pp.  352,  418—422. 


[1721.]  HOLLIS'S  GIFTS  TO  HARVARD  COLLEGE.  495 

ject  all  those  truths  therein,  which  cross  their  darling  no- 
tions !  Those  who  are  convinced  of  the  infinite  evil  of  sin, 
see  the  necessity  of  infinite  merit  to  remove  their  guilt,  and 
infinite  power  to  change  their  hearts  and  lives,  and  to  guide 
them  to  glory.  We  are  told,  that  by  openly  owning  these 
doctrines,  Mr.  Hollis  gave  a  check  to  some  who  had  no  great 
opinion  of  them.1 

The  Baptists  in  Boston  received  from  him  and  his  brother, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds  two  shillings,  for  repair- 
ing their  meeting-house,  for  which  a  letter  of  thanks  was 
returned.  And  in  Harvard  College  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis 
founded  a  professorship  of  theology,  with  a  salary  of  eighty 
pounds  per  annum  to  the  professor,  and  an  exhibition  of  ten 
pounds  apiece  per  annum  to  ten  scholars  of  good  character, 
four  of  whom  should  be  Baptists,  if  any  such  were  there ; 
as  also  ten  pounds  a  year  to  the  college  treasurer,  for  his 
trouble,  and  ten  pounds  more  to  supply  accidental  losses,  or 
to  increase  the  number  of  students.2  And  as  by  charter  the 
ministers  of  Boston,  for  the  time  being,  were  constituted  a 
part  of  the  overseers  of  the  college,  Mr.  Hollis  moved  that 
Mr.  Callender  might  have  a  seat  among  them.  And  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Callender,  of  February  8,  1721-2,  Mr.  Wallin 
said,  "  I  congratulate  my  friend  upon  his  admitment  to  the 
honor  of  an  overseer  of  the  college.  I  pray  God  that  truth 
and  Christian  love  may  more  and  more  abound."  But  wTe 
are  informed  by  the  late  Mr.  Condy,  that  Dr.  Sewall,  at  the 
head  of  other  ministers,  positively  denied  him  a  seat  there. 
Yet  how  often  have  such  men  accused  the  Baptists  of  being 
much  more  rigid  than  themselves  ]  and  there  was  not  a  word 
in  their  charter  to  exclude  him. 

Declension  and  stupidity  had  long  prevailed  in  the  land, 
till  a  revival  in  several  places  was  granted  in  1721.  Wind- 
ham had  so  large  a  share  of  it,  under  the  ministry  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Whiting,  as  to  add  eighty  communicants  to  their 


'Rudd's  Poem,  p.  23. 

2Neal's  History  of  New  England,  Vol.  II,  pp.  220,  221. 


496  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

church  this  year  ;  for  which  they  kept  a  special  day  of 
thanksgiving  to  God.  One  curious  event  then  happened 
there  which  I  shall  mention.  The  word  preached  was  such 
a  looking-glass  to  one  man,  that  he  seriously  went  to  Mr. 
Whiting,  and  told  him  he  was  very  sorry  that  so  good  a  min- 
ister as  he  was  should  so  grossly  transgress  the  divine  rule, 
as  to  tell  him  his  faults  before  all  the  congregation,  instead 
of  coming  to  labor  with  him  in  private.  The  minister 
smiled,  and  said  he  was  glad  that  truth  had  found  Turn  out, 
for  he  had  no  particular  thought  of  him  in  his  sermon. 
Norwich,  ten  miles  from  thence,  enjoyed  a  considerable 
measure  of  this  blessing  the  same  year,  from  whence  my 
pious  mother  dated  her  conversion.1  Many  young  people  in 
Boston  were  turned  to  a  serious  regard  for  religion  in  1 7 *2 1 . 
The  small-pox  coming  there  in  April,  and  prevailing  most 
terribly  through  the  year,  had  a  deep  effect  upon  many  souls. 
It  was  thought  that  not  more  than  a  quarter  of  the  inhabit- 
ants had  passed  through  that  distemper  before,  and  none  of 
them  who  were  under  eighteen  years.2  One  of  them  de- 
serves particular  notice  here. 

John  Comer  was  born  in  Boston,  August  1,  1704,  and  sat 
under  the  ministry  of  the  two  Mathers.  Having  a  great  in- 
clination for  learning,  he,  by  President  Mather's  influence, 
was  taken  from  an   apprenticeship  to  a  trade,  and  put  to 

JMrs.  Elizabeth  Backus,  the  mother  of  the  author  of  this  history,  has  already  been 
incidentally  noticed  in  connection  with  John  Tracy,  her  father.  See  p.  331.  In  his 
sermon  on  her  death,  Mr.  Backus  says,  "  She  has  often  mentioned  to  her  children  a 
work  of  conviction  and  conversion  which  she  experienced  about  the  year  1721." 
Gospel  Comfort  for  Mourners,  p.  19.  Before  her  conversion  she  had  united  with 
the  regular  church  in  Norwich,  and  she  remained  a  member  there  until  1745,  when, 
together  with  her  son,  she  joined  the  Separatists.  Denison's  Historical  Notes,  p.  44  : 
Life  and  Times  of  Backus,  pp.  27,  42.  Her  fidelity  and  her  sufferings  in  the  cause 
of  religion  will  be  noticed  hereafter.  Says  the  biographer  of  Mr.  Backus,  "  The 
mother  of  Isaac  Backus  was,  in  the  truest  and  highest  sense  of  the  expression,  an  ex- 
cellent woman.  Often  does  he  speak  of  her  in  terms  wf  deep  respect  and  love. 
With  special  satisfaction  does  he  dwell  upon  the  fruits  of  genuine  piety  which  ap- 
peared in  her  life.  In  a  sermon  occasioned  by  her  death,  he  calls  her  '  My  dear, 
godly  mother,'  and  there  is  ample  reason  for  the  belief  that  she  was  worthy  of  such 
a  designation."     Life  and  Times  of  Backus,  pp.  26,  27. — Ed. 

'Christian  History,  Vol.  I,  p.  130.  Vol.  II.  p.  375. 


[1721.]  CONVEKSION  OF  JOHN  COMER.  497 

school,  in  December.  1720.  Serious  turns  of  concern  about 
his  soul  nad  been  frequent  with  him  for  several  years  ;  which 
greatly  increased  for  seventeen  days  after  he  had  taken  that 
infection.  "  Nothing,"  says  he,  "  but  the  ghostly  counte- 
nance of  death  unprepared  for,  was  before  me,  and  no  sight 
of  a  reconciled  God,  nor  any  sense  of  the  application  of  the 
soul-cleansing  blood  of  Christ  to  my  distressed  soul.  I  re- 
mained in  extreme  terror  until  November  22.  All  the  in- 
terval of  time  I  spent  in  looking  over  the  affairs  of  my  soul; 
and  on  that  day  I  was  taken  sick.  As  soon  as  it  was  told 
me  that  the  distemper  appeared,  all*  my  fears  entirely  van- 
ished, and  a  beam  of  comfort  darted  into  my  soul,  and  with 
it  satisfaction  from  those  words,  'Thou  shalt  not  die  but 
live,  and  declare  the  wrorks  of  the  Lord.'  Yea,  so  great  was 
my  satisfaction,  that  immediately  I  replied  to  my  aunt  who 
informed  me, '  Then  I  know  I  shall  not  die  now ; '  but  gave  no 
reason  why  I  said  so."  He  recovered,  and  afterwards  be- 
came a  Baptist  minister  ;  and  his  ingenious  diary  and  papers 
have  furnished  many  valuable  materials  for  our  history. 
Ephraim  Crafts,  one  of  his  young  brethren,  was  baptized 
and  added  to  that  church  in  Boston,  January  27,  1723. 
John  Dabney,  from  London,  had  been  received  by  them  De- 
cember 4,  1720,  and  Richard  Bevens,  from  Wales,  the  next 
August,  who  were  members  of  Baptist  churches  before  they 
came  here.  Other  members  from  Europe  were  added  to 
them,  both  before  and  since. 

32 


CHAPTER    XI. 

Ill  Treatment  about  Worship  at  Swanzey. — At  Freetown. — Tiv- 
erton and  Dartmouth. — Some  Relief  from  England. — Ministers' 
Attempts  for  more  Power  defeated. — Hollis's  and  Wallin's 
Letters. — Further  Donations,  and  Springfield  Affairs. — First 
exempting  laws  from  ministerial  Taxes. — Sufferings  at  Reho- 
both. — The  Lyme  Dispute. — Connecticut  Laws,  and  Yale  Col- 
lege. 

Equal  religious  liberty,  by  virtue  of  a  special  act,  was 
enjoyed  in  Boston;  but  was  so  much  denied  in  the  country, 
that  most  of  the  Baptists  had  no  heart  to  send  their  sons  to 
Harvard  College ;  though  a  few  of  them  did  so,  whereby 
they  made  some  use  of  Mr.  Hollis's  donations  there.  Great 
pains  were  taken  to  compel  every  town  to  receive  and  sup- 
port such  ministers  as  the  Court  called  orthodox.  A  law 
was  also  made  at  Boston,  in  the  May  session  of  1718,  to  tax 
all  to  the  building  and  repairing  of  parish  meeting-houses. 
In  1717  the  pious  and  judicious  Elder  Luther  fell  asleep, 
leaving  the  care  of  the  first  church  in  Swanzey  to  Elder 
Ephraim  Wheaton,  who  had  been  a  colleague  with  him 
about  thirteen  years.  The  second  church  in  Swanzey  had 
then  two  ordained  pastors  ;  yet  in  April,  1719,  their  Select- 
men were  convented  before  Bristol  Court,  u  for  not  having 
a  minister  according  to  the  law  of  the  province."  But  upon 
proving  that  Elder  Wheaton  was  their  lawful  minister,  they 
were  dismissed,  "  paying  costs."1     His  meeting-house  stood 

Bristol  Court  Records. — B. 

A  similar  experience  of  this  church  is  recorded  on  page449.— Ed. 


500  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

near  the  borders  of  Rehoboth ;  and  he  and  many  of  *his 
people  who  lived  therein  were  taxed  to  Pa?dobaptist  minis- 
ters of  that  town,  of  which  we  shall  hear  more  presently. 

Freetown,  which  lies  on  the  east  side  of  Great  River 
against  Swanzey,  met  with  worse  treatment  than  they  did. 
For  on  September  9,  1717,  they  made  choice  of  Thomas 
Craghead,  a  minister  from  Ireland,  for  their  pastor ;  and  he 
accepted  of  their  call.  But  instead  of  an  amicable  agree- 
ment with  them  about  his  support,  he  went  in  January, 
1718,  and  procured  an  act  of  Bristol  Court,  to  compel  Free- 
town to  pay  him  a  salary  of  sixty-five  pounds  a  year,  to 
begin  from  the  day  he  was  chosen  their  minister.  And  for 
refusing  to  pay  it,  about  fourteen  of  the  inhabitants  were 
seized  and  imprisoned  at  Bristol ;  one  of  whom  was  Benja- 
min Chase,  a  member  of  a  Baptist  church  in  Newport.  In 
April,  1719,  each  party  carried  witnesses  about  these  mat- 
ters to  Bristol  Court;  but  the  Court  dismissed  them  all,  and 
required  the  town  to  obey  their  former  order.  In  1720, 
Thomas  Gage  and  George  Winslow,  their  Select-men.  were 
fined  forty  shillings  apiece  for  not  assessing  Craghead's 
salary.  At  last  he  was  defeated  in  a  trial  at  law,  and  was 
forced  to  quit  the  town  ;  but  these  broils  produced  great 
and  lasting  evils  therein.  Little  Compton  had  settled  a 
legal  minister ;  and  as  Elder  Tabor  owned  some  land  in  that 
town,  he  was  taxed  to  him  ;  for  which  a  riding-saddle  was 
taken  from  Tabor,  as  a  person  informed  me  who  saw  it. 

Tiverton  and  Dartmouth  were  the  only  remaining  towns 
in  the  province1  which  had  not  yielded  to  the  ruling  party 
about  worship.  When  orders  for  that  purpose  had  come 
from  their  Courts,  they  had  reported,  that  Joseph  Wanton 
was  the  minister  of  Tiverton,  and  Elder  Tabor  the  minister 
of  the  west  part  of  Dartmouth,  and  another  man  for  the 
east  part.  But  as  the  Court  did  not  esteem  them  to  be 
orthodox,  a  complaint  against  those  towns  was  presented  to 

'Tiverton  was  at  that  time  included  in  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  but  was 
afterwards  set  off  to  Rhode  Island.     See  page  282.—  Ed. 


[1723.]  AFFAIRS  IN  TIVERTON  AND  DARTMOUTH.  501 

thdir  Legislature  in  1722  ;  which  annexed  such  sums  as 
they  thought  proper  for  the  purpose  to  their  province  tax. 
This  being  heard  of,  their  Selectmen  refused  to  assess  it  ; 
for  which  two  of  them  out  of  each  town  were  seized  on  May 
25,  1723,  and  were  imprisoned  at  Bristol.  Hereupon 
Thomas  Richardson,  who  married  friend  Wanton's  daughter, 
was  sent  over  to  London  ;  and  with  Richard  Partridge,  agent 
for  Rhode  Island  Colony,  presented  a  memorial  to  the  king 
in  Council;  wherein  they  observed,  that  our  charter  allows 
equal  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  Christians  except  Papists ; 
and  that  neither  the  charter  nor  any  law  had  established  any 
test  of  orthodoxy  in  this  province,  only  as  Presbyterians 
and  Independents  had  set  up  their  major  votes  as  such  ; 
whereby  dissenters  from  them  were  frequently  brought 
under  great  sufferings  ;  from  which  no  redress  could  be 
obtained  here,  "  the  Assembly  always  opposing  whatever 
the  Governor  and  Council  were  at  any  time  disposed  to  do 
on  that  behalf."  And  as  the  king,  at  his  accession  to  the 
throne,  promised  protection  and  liberty  of  conscience  to  all 
his  dissenting  subjects  without  exception,  they  prayed  that 
he  would  denounce  his  negative  upon  those  laws  or  parts 
of  laws  among  us,  that  interfered  therewith,  and  also  order 
those  prisoners  to  be  released.1  A  committee  was  appointed 
upon  the  case  ;  whose  report,  with  the  act  of  Council  thereon, 
is  as  follows: — 

To  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty:  May  it  please  your 
Majesty,  in  obedience  to  an  order  in  Council,  from  the  late  Lord's  Jus- 
tices, during  your  Majesty's  absence  abroad,  bearing  date  the  24th  day  of 
October  last,  we  did  make  a   representation  upon  an  act  passed  in  the 

JThis  Memorial  shows  the  affairs  of  Baptists  and  other  dissenters  from  the  Stand- 
ing Order  at  that  time,  in  so  clear  and  just  a  light,  that,  notwithstanding  its  length, 
we  insert  it  in  full. 

"To  George,  King  of  Great  Britain,  &c.  :  The  humble  petition  of  Thomas 
Richardson  and  Richard  Partridge,  in  behalf  of  Joseph  Anthony,  John  Sisson,  John 
Akin  and  Philip  Tabor,  prisoners  in  the  common  jail  at  New  Bristol,  in  the  king's 
province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England,  as  also  their  friends  (called 
Quakers)  in  general,  who  are  frequently  under  great  sufferings  for  conscience  sake 
in  that  government ;   Showeth  : 

"That  William  and  Mary,  late  King  and  Queen  of  England,  &c,  by  their  royal 


502  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  Xew  England,  in  1722,  intituled.  An 
act  for  apportioning  and  assessing  a  tax  of  £6.232,  13,  11  ;  since  which 
time  another  act,  mentioned  in  the  said  order  of  reference,  passed  the  29th 
day  of  May,  1723,  intituled,  "An  act  for  apportioning  and  assessing  a  tax  of 

charter,  bearing  date  the  seventh  day  of  October,  in  the  third  year  of  their  reign, 
did  (for  the  greater  ease  and  encouragement  of  their  loving  subjects  inhabiting  the 
said  province,  and  of  such  as  should  come  to  inhabit  there)  grant,  establish  and 
ordain,  that  forever  thereafter,  there  should  be  a  liberty  of  conscience  allowed,  in 
thu  worship  of  God,  to  all  Christians  except  papists,  inhabiting  or  which  should 
inhabit  or  be  resident  within  the  said  province,  'with  power  also  to  make  laws  for 
the  government  of  the  said  province,  and  support  of  the  same;  and  to  impose  taxes 
for  the  king's  service,  in  the  necessary  defence  and  support  of  the  said  government, 
and  protection  and  preservation  of  the  inhabitants ;  and  to  dispose  of  matters  and 
things  whereby  the  king's  subjects  might  be  there,  religiously,  peaceably  and  civilly 
governed,  protected  and  defended;'  and,  for  the  better  securing  and  maintaining 
liberty  of  conscience,  thereby  granted, — commanded  that  all  such  laws,  made  and 
published  by  virtue  of  said  charter,  should  be  made  and  published  under  the  seal  of 
the  said  province,  and  should  be  carefully  and  duly  observed,  kept  and  performed ; 
and  put  in  execution,  according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  said  charter  : 

"That  those  sorts  of  Protestants  called  Presbyterians  and  Independents,  being 
more  numerous  in  the  said  country  than  others,  (to  whom  the  said  charter  gives 
equal  rights)  they  become  makers  of  the  laws  by  their  superior  numbers  and  votes, 
and  ministers  of  the  privileges  of  the  said  charter,  so  as,  in  great  measure,  to  elude 
the  same,  and  disappoint  all  others  of  the  king's  protestant  subjects,  of  the  good 
and  just  ends  of  transporting  themselves  and  families  at  so  great  hazard  and  charges, 
our  great  encouragement  and  inducement  thereto  being  liberty  of  conscience  and 
ease  from  priestly  impositions  and  burdens  :  That  in  the  year  1692,  they  made  a 
law  in  the  said  province,  entitled,  'An  Act  for  the  settlement  and  support  of  Minis- 
ters and  Schoolmasters,' wherein  it  is  ordained  'that  the  inhabitants  of  each  town 
within  the  said  province,  shall  take  due  care,  from  time  to  time,  to  be  constantly 
provided  of  an  able,  and  learned  orthodox  minister  or  ministers,  of  a  good  conrersa- 
tion  to  dispense  the  word  of  God  to  them;  which  minister  or  ministers  shall  be 
suitably  encouraged  and  sufficiently  supported  and  maintained  by  the  inhabitants  of 
such  towns;'  That  the  said  law  was  further  enforced  by  another  made  in  the  year 
1695,  reciting  its  title  aforesaid;  as  also  by  another  made  in  the  year  171.">,  entitled 
'An  Act  for  maintaining  and  propagating  religion,' in  which  said  last  Act,  the  pre- 
vention of  the  growth  of  atheism,  irreligion  and  profaneness,  is  suggested  as  one 
great  reason  of  its  being;  and  the  power  of  determining  who  shall  be  minister! 
under  the  qualifications,  is,  by  the  said  laws,  assumed  by  the  General  Court  or 
Assembly,  with  the  recommendation  of  any  three  of  the  ministers  of  the  said  same 
sect-,  already  in  their  orders,  and  settled  and  supported  by  virtue  of  the  said  laws; 
though  it  is  not  determined,  (as  the  petitioners  humbly  presume)  either  by  the  said 
charter  or  by  any  act  of  parliament  in  Great  Britain,  or  by  any  express  law  of  the 
said  province,  who  are  orthodox  and  who  are  not.  or  who  shall  judge  of  such  quali- 
fications in  such  ministers :  And  in  all  which  said  several  laws,  no  other  care  is 
had  or  taken  of  religion  (even  in  their  own  sense)  than  only  to  appoint  minister!  of 
their  own  way,  and  impose  their  maintenance  upon  all  the  king's  subject-  consci- 
entiously dissenting   from   them.     By  force   of  which  said  laws,  or  some    of  them, 


[1724.]  MEMORIAL  TO  THE  KING.  503 

£6,205,  15,  7J,"  is  come  to  our  hands  ;  by  which  act  a  tax  is  laid  in  express 
terms  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Dartmouth  and  Tiverton  for  the  support  of 
a  Presbyteriau,  whom  they  call  an  orthodox  minister,  which  falls  almost 
entirely  upon  the  Quakers,  there  being  very  few  inhabitants  of  any  other 

several  townships  within  the  said  province,  have  had  Presbyterian  or  Independent 
preachers  obtruded  and  imposed  upon  them  for  maintenance  without  their  consent, 
and  which  they  have  not  deemed  able,  learned  or  orthodox,  and  which,  as  such,  they 
could  not  hear  or  receive  :  That  by  another  law,  made  in  the  years  1722  and  1723, 
it  is  ordained  that  the  town  of  Dartmouth  and  the  towu  of  Tiverton,  in  the  said 
province,  be  assessed  for  the  said  years,  the  respective  sums  of  one  hundred  pounds, 
and  seventy-two  pounds  and  eleven  shillings  over  and  beside  the  common  taxes  for 
support  of  government,  which  sums  are  for  the  maintenance  of  such  ministers  : 
That  the  said  Joseph  Anthony  and  John  Sisson  were  appointed  assessors  of  the 
taxes  for  the  said  town  of  Tiverton,  and  the  said  John  Aikin  and  Philip  Tabor  for 
the  town  of  Dartmouth ;  but  some  of  the  said  assessors  being  of  the  people  called 
Quakers,  and  others  of  them  also  dissenting  from  the  Presbyterians  and  Independ- 
ents and  greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  said  towns  being  also  Quakers  or  Ana- 
baptists or  of  differing  sentiments  in  religion  from  Independents,  though  the  said 
assessors  duly  assessed  the  other  taxes  upon  the  people  there,  relating  to  the  sup- 
port of  government,  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge,  yet  they  could  not  in  conscience 
assess  any  of  the  inhabitants  of  these  towns  anything  for  or  towards  the  mainte- 
nance of  any  ministers ;  That  they,  the  said  Joseph  Anthony,  John  Sisson,  John 
Aikin  and  Philip  Tabor,  on  pretence  of  their  non-compliance  with  the  said  law, 
were,  on  the  2oth  of  the  month  called  May,  1723,  committed  to  the  jail  aforesaid, 
where  they  still  continue  prisoners,  under  great  sufferings  and  hardships,  both  to 
themselves  and  families,  and  where  they  must  remain  and  die,  if  not  relieved  by  the 
king's  royal  clemency  and  favor :  That  the  people  called  Quakers  in  the  said 
province,  are,  and  generally  have  been,  great  sufferers  by  the  said  laws,  in  their 
cattle,  horses,  sheep,  corn  and  household  goods,  which  from  time  to  time  have  been 
taken  from  them  by  violence  of  the  said  laws  for  the  maintenance  of  ministers  who 
call  themselves  able,  learned  and  orthodox;  which  said  laws,  and  the  execution  and 
consequences  thereof,  are  not  only,  (as  the  petitioners  humbly  conceive)  contrary 
to  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  security  of  religion,  civil  liberty,  and  the  rights 
and  privileges  granted  in  the  said  charter,  to  all  the  king's  protestant  subjects,  there 
eluded  and  made  null  and  precarious,  but  opposite  also  to  the  king's  royal  and  gra- 
cious declaration  at  thy  happy  accession  to  the  throne,  promising  protection  and 
liberty  of  conscience  to  all  thy  dissenting  subjects  without  exception  to  those  of  the 
said  plantations  :  That  after  repeated  application  made  to  the  said  government 
there  for  redress  in  the  premises,  and  no  relief  hitherto  obtained,  (the  Assembly 
always  opposing  >  hatever  the  Governor  and  Council  were  at  any  time  disposed  to 
do  on  that  behalf,)  the  king's  loyal,  suffering  and  distressed  subjects,  do  now  pros- 
trate themselves  at  the  steps  of  the  throne,  humbly  imploring  thy  royal  considera- 
tion, that  it  may  please  the  king  to  denounce  his  negative  upon  the  said  laws  or  such 
part  or  parts  of  them  or  any  of  them  as  directly  or  consequently  effect  the  lives, 
liberty,  property,  religion  or  conscience  of  thy  protestant  subjects  in  the  said  prov- 
ince, and  their  families  and  privileges  granted  and  intended  in  the  said  royal  char- 
ter, or  such  other  relief  as  thy  royal  wisdom  and  goodness  may  please  to  provide." 
Rev.  S.  Hall's  Collection  of  papers. — Ed. 


504  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

persuasion  in  those  two  towns.1  But  as  by  the  charter  granted  to  this 
Province,  a  free  and  absolute  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  Christians  (except 
papists)  was  intended  to  have  been  their  foundation  and  support,  and  as 
by  Beveral  laws  passed  there,  it  seems  to  have  been  laid  down  as  a  just  and 
equitable  rule,  that  the  majority  of  each  town  congregation  should  have 
the  choice  of  their  own  teachers,  we  cannot  see  why  the  Quakers  should  be 
refused  this  liberty,  in  the  towns  where  they  are  so  great  a  majority,  and 
be  obliged  to  maintain  a  teacher  of  a  different  persuasion.  Wherefore  we 
humbly  propose  to  your  Majesty,  that  this  act  may  be  repealed  ;  which  is 
most  humbly  submitted. 

Westmoreland, 
T.  Pelham, 
M.  Bladen, 

Whitehall,  May  C,  1724.  El>W"  AsIIE' 

At  the  Court  at  St.  James's,  2d  day  of  Juue,  1724.. 

Present,  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty,  his  Royal  Highness  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  A.  B.  of  Canterbury,  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  President, 
Lord  Privy-Seal,  Lord  Chamberlain,  Duke  of  Roxburg,  Duke  of  New 
Castle,  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  Lord  Viscount  Townsend,  Lord  Viscount 
Torriugton,  Mr.  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr.  Vice-Chamber- 
lain, William  Pultney,  Esq. 

Upon  reading  this  day  at  the  Board  a  report  from  the  Right  Honorable 
the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council,  upon  the  petition  of  Thomas 
Richardson  and  Richard  Partridge,  on  behalf  of  Joseph  Anthony,  John 
Sisson,  Johu  Akin  and  Philip  Tabor,  prisoners  at  the  common  goal  at 
New  Bristol,  in  his  Majesty's  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England,  for  not  assessing  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  of  Dartmouth  aud 
Tiverton  the  additional  taxes  of  £172,  11,  imposed  upon  them  by  an  act 
passed  there  in  the  year  1722,  which  appears  to  be  for  the  maintenance  of 
Presbyteriau  ministers,  who  are  not  of  their  persuasion  ;  and  also  in  behalf 
of  their  friends  called  Quakers  in  general,  who  are  frequently  under  great 
Bufferings  for  conscience  sake  in  that  government  :  by  which  report  it 
appears  that  their  Lordships  are  of  opinion,  that  it  may  be  advisable  for  his 
Majesty  to  remit  the  said  additional  taxes,  so  imposed  on  the  said  two 
towns,  and  to  discharge  the  said  persons  from  goal :  His  Majesty  in  Coun- 
cil taking  the  said  report  into  consideration,  is  graciously  pleased  to 
approve  thereof,  and  hereby  to  remit  the  said  additional  taxes  of  one  hun- 
dred  pounds,  and  seventy-two  pounds,  eleven  shillings,  which  were  by  the 
said  act  to  be  assessed  on  the  said  towns  of  Dartmouth  and  Tiverton.    And 

'The  Memorial  says,  "The  greatest  part  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  towns  being 
Quakers,  or  A  nahuptists,  or  of  differing  sentiments  in  religion  from  Independents 
and  Presbyterians.    Quaker  lUcords. 


[1724.]  A  GENERAL  SYNOD  PROPOSED.  505 

his  Majesty  is  hereby  further  pleased  to  order,  that  the  said  Joseph  An 
thony,  John  Sisson,  John  Akin  and  Philip  Tabor,  be  immediately  released 
from  their  imprisonment  on  account  thereof.  And  the  Governor,  Lieuten- 
ant Governor,  and  Commander  in  Chief,  for  the  time  being,  of  his  Majes- 
ty's said  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  all  others  whom  it  may 
concern,  are  to  take  notice,  and  yield  due  obedience  hereunto. 

Temple  Stanyan. 

Before  this,  I  find  Mr.  Wailin,  in  one  of  his  letters,  say- 
ing of  king  George  the  First,  "  Without  any  partiality  to 
him  as  our  reigning  prince,  I  believe  he  is  the  greatest  man, 
and  the  most  fit  for  government,  of  any  prince  in  the  Chris- 
tian world."  And  his  son  and  successor,  then  Prince  of 
Wales,  was  not  inferior  to  him.  By  the  above  act  our 
friends  were  released  from  a  thirteen  months'  imprisonment. 
And  as  Jacob  Tabor  and  Beriah  Goddard,  of  Dartmouth, 
were  imprisoned  for  not  assessing  said  tax  of  1723,  Henry 
Howland.  their  other  assessor,  laid  their  case  before  the  As- 
sembly at  Boston,  who,  on  November  26,  1724,  passed  an 
act  to  release  them,  "  to  signify  their  ready  and  dutiful  com- 
pliance with  his  Majesty's  declared  will  and  pleasure." 
Anthony  and  Sisson  were  of  Tiverton,  the  rest  were  of  Dart- 
mouth, and  Philip  Tabor  was  a  Baptist  minister  therein. 
These  things  were  far  from  affording  any  satisfaction  to  the 
ministerial  party  here,  as  the  following  facts  will  shew.  For 
at  the  annual  convention  of  their  ministers  at  Boston,  May 
26,  1725,  they  drew  up  an  address  to  their  Legislature, 
which  says  : — 

Considering  the  great  and  visible  decay  of  piety  in  the  country,  and  the 
growth  of  many  miscarriages,  which  we  fear  may  have  provoked  the  glo- 
rious Lord,  in  a  series  of  various  judgments,  wonderfully  to  distress  us  ; 
considering  also  the  laudable  example  of  our  predecessors  to  recover  and 
establish  the  faith  and  order  of  the  gospel  in  the  churches,  and  provide 
against  what  immoralities  may  threaten  to  impair  them,  in  the  way  of  Gen- 
eral Synods  convened  for  that  purpose  ;  and  considering  that  about  forty- 
five  years  have  now  rolled  away  since  these  churches  have  seen  any  such 
conventions  ;  it  is  humbly  desired,  that  the  honorable  General  Court  would 
express  their  concern  for  the  interests  of  religion  in  the  country,  by  calling 
the  several  churches  in  the  province  to  meet  by  their  pastors  and  messen- 


506  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

gers  in  a  Synod,  and  from  thence  offer  their  advice  upon  that  weighty  case 
which  the  circumstances  of  the  day  do  loudly  call  to  be  considered  :'  What 

are  the  miscarriages  whereof  we  have  reason  to  think  the  judgments  of 
heaven  upon  as  call  us  to  be  more  generally  sensible,  and  what  may  be  the 
most  evangelical  and  effectual  expedients  to  put  a  stop  unto  those  or  the 
like  miscarriages?  This  proposal  we  humbly  make,  in  hopes  that,  it'  it  be 
prosecuted,  it  may  be  followed  with  many  desirable  consequences,  worthy 
the  study  of  those  whom  God  has  made,  and  we  are  so  happy  to  enjoy,  as 
the  nursing  fathers  of  our  churches. 

Cotton  Mather. 
In  the  name  of  the  ministers  assembled  in  their  General  Convention.2 

On  June  3,  the  Council  voted  to  grant  their  petition  ;  but 
the  Representatives  voted  to  defer  the  matter  till  their  next 
session,  which  the  Council  concurred  with,  and  Lieutenant 
Governor  Dummer  consented  thereto.  June  11th,  a  com- 
mittee of  the  General  Court,  whereof  Samuel  Sewall,  Esq., 
was  chairman,  appointed  upon  the  affair  of  ministers1  sala- 
ries, brought  in  a  report,  to  have  a  law  made  to  compel  every 
parish  to  make  up  to  their  ministers  their  several  salaries, 
equal  to  what  they  were  when  their  contracts  were  made  ; 
and  for  the  Judges  of  their  County  Courts  to  determine  how 
much  their  currency  had  depreciated.  This  report  was  not 
accepted;  but  instead  of  it  a  resolve  was  passed,  recommend- 
ing it  to  every  town,  precinct  and  parish  in  the  province,  to 
make  up  to  their  respective  ministers  their  salaries  equal  to 
what  money  was  when  their  contracts  were  made  ;  which  re- 
solve they  ordered  to  be  read  to  each  congregation  the  next 
Lord's  day  after  it  was  received,  and  also  in  their  parish 
meetings  the  March  after.3  Episcopalians  sent  an  account 
to  the  Bishop  of  London  of  the  said  petition  for  a  synod, 
who  laid  the  same  before  the  Lords  Justices  of  the  Regency; 
from  whom  a  sharp  reprimand  was  written  to  Mr.  Dummer, 
October  7,  1725,  for  giving  any  countenance  to  said  petition, 

'What  they  wanted  was  to  recover  and  esiahUsh  the  power  which  ministers  claimed ; 

and,  like  the  Synod  of  lti7!>,  which  they  refer  to,  to  represent  to  rulers  and  and  peo- 
ple that  the  judgments  of  heaven  would  follow  them,  if  thai  was  not  granted.     See 
page  885. 
2IIutehinaon,  Vol.  II,  p.  822.   [292.]  'Massachusetts  Records. 


[1724.]  THE  SYNOD  PROHIBITED.  507 

and  for  not  sending  over  an  account  thereof  immediately 
after  it  was  presented  and  acted  upon.  They  declared  that 
inquiry  had  been  made  by  proper  authority,  and  they  could 
not  find  that  there  was  any  regular  establishment  of  a  na- 
tional or  provincial  church  here,  so  as  to  warrant  the  hold- 
ing synods  of  the  clergy  ;  but  that  if  there  were,  it  was  the 
king's  prerogative  to  call  them,  which  therefore  was  invaded 
by  the  General  Court  when  they  intermeddled  therewith. 
And  if  such  a  synod  was  called,  and  should  be  sitting  when 
their  letter  arrived,  they  wrote  to  Dummer  : — 

Cause  such  their  meeting  to  cease,  acquainting  them  that  their  assembly 
is  against  law,  and  a  contempt  of  his  Majesty's  prerogative,  and  that  they 
are  forbid  to  meet  any  more.  But  if,  notwithstanding  such  signification, 
they  shall  continue  to  hold  such  an  assembly,  you  are  then  to  take  care 
that  the  principal  actors  therein  be  prosecuted  for  a  misdemeanor  ;  but  you 
are  to  avoid  doing  any  formal  act  to  dissolve  them,  lest  it  be  construed  to 
imply  that  they  had  a  right  to  assemble. 

Charles  Delafaye. 

Mr.  Dummer,  in  a  letter  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  en- 
deavored to  excuse  himself,  by  observing,  that  a  like  vote  of 
the  Council  upon  a  like  petition  was  passed  in  1715,  which 
was  never  censured  from  home  as  he  knew  of.1  But  then  it 
was  not  countenanced  by  the  other  branches  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, as  this  was.  The  minister  who,  in  behalf  of  the  rest, 
signed  the  above  petition  for  a  synod,  published  a  book  in 
1726,  wherein  he  promises  a  faithful  account  of  the  disci- 
pline of  the  Xew  England  churches.  Much  of  it  was  writ- 
ten many  years  before,  and  an  attestation  was  prefixed  to  it 
by  Dr.  Increase  Mather,  dated  December  10,  1719.  After 
sixty-six  years'  labor  in  the  great  work  of  the  ministry,  he 
fell  asleep,  August  23,  1723,  aged  eighty-five.  Though  he 
was  a  friend  to  councils  and  synods,  yet  he  testified  against 
giving  them  such  power  as  his  son  and  many  more  wanted. 
But  he  and  others  being  removed,  their  children  renewed 
their  attempts  for  that  power.     His  son  had  a  strong  affec- 

^ouglas,  Vol.  II,  pp.  337,  378, 


508  HISTORY  OF  THE    BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

tion  for  the  proposals  of  1705,  and  for  Governor  Saltonstall, 
who  procured  the  establishment  of  that  scheme  in  Connecti- 
cut;  even  so  that  when  Saltonstall  died  in  1724,  Mather 
preached  a  funeral  sermon  for  him  at  Boston,  a  hundred 
miles  off,  and  got  it  printed  at  New  London.  He  also  now 
discovered  his  resentment  against  Mr.  Wise,  for  writing 
against  said  proposals.1  And  having  declared  that  four 
synods  had  been  called  by  authority  in  the  Massachusetts, 
he  says,  "  The  synods  of  New  England  know  no  weapons, 

but  what  are   purely  spiritual They  have  no  secular 

arm  to  enforce  any  canons  ;  they  ask  none  ;  they  want  none. 
And  they  cannot  believe,  that  any  Protestant  secular  arm 
would,  upon  [a]  due  information,  any  more  forbid  their  meet- 
ings, than  they  would  any  of  the  religious  assemblies  upheld 
in  the  country."2  Had  this  been  true,  we  have  no  reason  to 
think  that  their  meetings  would  have  been  forbidden.  But 
plain  facts  shew,  that  the  immediate  effect  of  the  first  of 
those  synods  was  the  dissolving  of  a  House  of  Representa- 
tives (who  would  not  punish  such  as  the  synod  had  con- 
demned) and  the  calling  of  another  ;  who  disfranchised,  dis- 
armed and  banished  a  considerable  number  of  persons. 
And  their  second  synod  declared  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
magistrate  to  put  forth  his  coercive  power  against  schismatics, 
the  effects  whereof  were  the  fining,  imprisoning,  scourging, 
banishing  and  hanging  of  those  whom  they  so  called.  And 
the  result  of  the  fourth  synod  caused  the  nailing  up  of  the 
Baptist  meeting-house  in  Boston.3  Are  all  these  weapons 
purely  spiritual?  His  meaning  no  doubt  was,  that  their 
synods  only  informed  rulers  of  what  was  their  duty,  which 
they  were  to  do  out  of  regard  to  God,  and  not  to  them. 
But  the  most  horrid  persecutions  that  ever  were  practiced 
were  done  under  such  pretences.  And  this  author  was  in 
earnest  to  have  their  order  of  ministers  supported  by  taxes, 

'Ratio  Discipline  Pratrum  Nov.  Anglornm,  p.  184. 

■Ibid,  pp.  17l\  173. 

•See  pagei  GG— t;«j,  159,  180,  192,  262,  39:5,  828,  385. 


[1723.]  LETTER  FROM  THOMAS  HOLLIS,  509 

imposed  and  collected  "  in  the  king's  name."  To  justify 
which,  he  says,  "  If  the  most  of  the  inhabitants  in  a  planta- 
tion are  Episcopalians,  they  will  have  a  minister  of  their 
own  persuasion  ;  and  the  dissenters,  if  there  be  any  in  the 
place,  must  pay  their  proportion  of  the  tax,  for  the  support 
of  this  legal  minister."1  He  knew  that  such  an  instance 
had  not  then  taken  place  in  New  England ;  and  we  know 
that  every  thing  of  that  nature  has  been  earnestly  opposed 
therein  ever  since.  And  he  then  commended  some  of  his 
party,  for  involving  a  salary  for  their  ministers  in  a  general 
rate  for  all  town  charges,  "  where  Quakerism  was  trouble- 
some,"2 which  he  might  have  said  was  likewise  done  to  the 
Baptists  in  Eehoboth,  if  he  had  been  willing  the  whole 
truth  should  be  known. 

Mr.  Hollis's  ideas  of  the  nature  of  religion,  and  of  the 
state  of  this  country,  appear  in  the  following  letter  to  Elder 
Wheaton  : — 

London,  March  13,  1723. 
Dear  Sir  : — I  have  newly  received,  under  covert  of  Mr.  Elisha  Callen- 
der,  your  long  looked-for  letter,  dated  the  25th  of  December,  and  give  you 
thanks  for  the  account  you  give  me  of  the  affairs  of  your  church,  your 
circumstances,  and  your  neighbors'.  I  am  glad  the  books  sent  you  are  of 
use  unto  you  ;  by  the  same  hand  you  will  have  another  forwarded,  which 
I  value,  and  suppose  you  will.  I  rejoice  in  the  success  of  your  ministry, 
and  increase  of  your  church,  which  will  naturally  increase  your  cares  with 
your  joy.  I  mourn  because  of  the  ignorance  of  your  sleeping  Sabbata- 
rians ;  let  us  be  thankful  for  our  light,  pity  them  and  pray  for  them,  and 
endeavor  in  love  to  lead  them  into  the  light  also.  God,  that  hath  shined 
into  our  hearts  by  his  gospel,  can  lead  them  from  the  Sinai  covenant  and 
the  law  of  ceremonies,  into  the  light  of  the  new  covenant  and  the  grace 
thereof.  I  pity  to  see  professors  drawing  back  to  the  law,  and  desire  to 
remember  that  our  standing  is  by  grace  ;  and  therefore  not  to  be  high- 
minded  over  them,  but  fear,  remembering  our  Lord's  words,  Watch  and 
pray,  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation.  Every  word  of  God  is  precious  ;  the 
saints  love  it ;  and  thev  that  honor  him  he  will  honor  ;  and  in  keeping  of 

*Ratio  Discipline,  &c,  p.  21. 

3Ibid,  p.  22.— B. 

"  Where  Quakerism  is  troublesome,  some  towns  are  so  wise  to  involve  the  salary 
of  the  ministry  in  the  general  rate  for  all  town  charges,  and  so  the  cavils  of  those 
who  would  else  refuse  to  pay  the  rate  for  the  ministry,  are  obviated." — Ed. 


510  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

it  there  is  present  peace,  and  a  promise  of  future  reward.  We  now  live 
by  faith  and  not  by  sight.  He  that  endureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved. 
Go  on,  sir,  sowing  the  seed,  looking  up  to  him  whose  work  alone  it  is  to 
give  the  increase,  whoever  be  the  planter  or  waterer  ;  and  as  you  do  abound 
in  your  labors,  and  do  find  him  multiplying  seed  unto  you,  may  you  yet 
abound  more  and  more  to  the  end,  which  is  my  sincere  wish.  Let  no  man 
rob  us  of  our  comfortable  hope,  that  when  we  cease  to  be  here  we  shall  be 
present  with  the  Lord,  in  whose  presence  the  saints  believe  is  fullness  of 
joy  in  a  separate  state,  and  expectation  of  greater  in  the  resurrection,  when 
it  shall  be  fully  manifested  how  he  loved  them.  Let  none  jeer  us  out  of 
our  duty  now  to  lisp  forth  his  praises  with  our  tongues,  since  we  expect 
hereafter  to  sing  in  a  better  manner  the  song  of  the  Lamb,  with  a  much 
more  noble  chorus. 

In  reference  to  your  poll-tax  and  other  taxes,  which  are  necessary  for 
support  of  the  government  and  society,  [they]  are  not  to  be  esteemed  a 
burthen  ;  it  is  giving  tribute  or  tithes  to  whom  tribute  is  due,  unless  the 
taxes  do  oppress  you  unequally,  because  you  are  Baptists  and  Separatists ; 
if  so,  then  let  me  know,  (who  profess  myself  a  Baptist)  and  I  will  en- 
deavor to  have  a  word  spoken  for  you  to  the  Governor,  that  you  may  be 
eased.  You  know  that  our  profession  is  not  mody  in  your  country  nor  ours  ; 
few  if  any  of  the  great  men  submitting  to  plain  institution  ;  and  as  we  pro- 
fess ourselves  disciples  of  Christ,  it  is  our  duty  to  take  up  our  cross  with 
patience,  and  pay  parochial  duties  where  we  live,  and  voluntarily  maintain 
our  own  charge,  and  be  thankful  for  our  liberty,  as  men  and  Christians,  to 
our  good  God,  who  in  his  providence  has  inspired  many  magistrates  and 
ministers  in  your  province  with  a  truer  spirit  of  catholic  charity  than  for- 
merly. You  have  heard,  or  may  be  informed  by  Mr.  Callender,  of  my 
foundation  in  Harvard  College,  and  the  provision  I  have  made  for  Baptist 
youth  to  be  educated  for  the  ministry,  and  equally  regarded  with  Paedo- 
baptists.  If  you-  know  any  as  may  be  duly  qualified,  inform  me,  and  I 
shall  be  glad  to  recommend  them  for  the  first  vacancy.  And  to  close  ; 
while  we  profess  to  worship  God  nearer  to  the  rule  of  primitive  institution 
and  practice  of  our  great  Prophet  and  Teacher,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
his  apostles,  let  our  light  so  shine  before  men  in  all  holy  conversation,  that 
such  whose  inclinations  may  be  ready  to  speak  evil  of  our  way,  may  be 
ashamed.  May  serious  religion  and  godliness  in  the  power  of  it  flourish 
among  us  ;  every  thing  that  goes  in  to  make  up  the  true  Christian.  Where 
the  image  of  Christ  is  formed  in  any,  I  call  them  the  excellent  of  the 
earth  ;  with  such  I  delight  to  associate  and  worship,  whatever  particular 
denomination  they  may  go  by  among  men  ;  and  this  I  would  do  till  we  all 
come  into  the  unity  of  the  faith,  &c.  Acts  xx.  32. 
Your  loving  friend, 

Thomas  IIollis. 


[1725.]  WALLIN'S  LETTER  TO  CALLENDER.  511 

This  I  copied  from  the  original  letter ;  and  would  just 
observe  upon  it,  that  the  generality  of  parish  rates  here 
were  only  for  the  support  of  one  way  of  worship,  and  not 
for  the  government,  as  he  supposed.  And  further  light 
about  the  conduct  of  that  day  may  be  gained  from  the  fol- 
lowing letter: — 

London,  February,  18,  1724-5. 

Dear  Brother  Callender  :  I  had  the  pleasure  of  yours  by  Captain 
Lawrence,  and  am  glad  to  hear  of  your  welfare.  May  the  Lord  preserve 
your  health  and  usefulness.  I  rejoice  at  the  increase  of  your  members, 
and  the  good  prospect  you  have  of  more  being  added  to  your  church,  even 
of  such  who  shall  be  saved.  It  is  sweet  eucouragement  to  a  poor  laborer 
in  Christ's  vineyard,  to  find  the  Lord  works  with  him  ;  and  some  visible 
instances  of  sovereign  grace  and  love  among  his  people  make  his  drooping 
spirit  revive  and  sing.  May  you  have  more  of  these,  especially  among  the 
rising  generation  ;  for  it  is  a  particular  pleasure  to  see  young  ones  look 
Ziouward,  and  truly  remember  their  Creator  in  the  days  of  their  youth  ; 
though  in  this  case  we  have  always  reason  to  rejoice  with  trembling, 
because  so  many  who  seemed  to  run  well  for  a  time,  have  been  turned 
aside  by  youthful  lusts,  (which  war  against  the  soul)  to  the  wounding  the 
hearts  of  their  ministers,  and  the  dishonor  of  Christ.  I  am  sorry  you  have 
so  much  cause  to  complain,  with  us,  of  the  great  decay  of  the  power  and 
purity  of  religion.  I  am  afraid  this  inquisitive  age  of  professors  spend  too 
much  time,  and  almost  all  their  zeal,  about  matters  of  speculation, 
and  neglect  the  closet  and  inward  experimental  religion  too  much.  I 
observe  by  some  letters  and  papers,  by  Captain  Lawrence,  that  there  is  a 
number  of  young  men  formed  into  a  society  at  Boston,  who  have  taken 
upon  them  the  name  of  the  Berean  Society.  It  is  a  noble  design  to  be 
wholly  governed  by  Scripture,  and  [I]  wish  every  professor  had  such  a 
resolution.  They  seem  to  be  in  earnest  about  #\rhat  they  propose,  and  if 
any  of  their  zeal,  for  any  particular  point  in  dispute  among  Christians, 
should  flame  too  high,  I  am  glad  they  are  under  your  conduct,  by  which  I 
hope  they  will  be  well  directed  for  their  mutual  edification,  and  the  honor 
of  truth.  They  will  have  some  books,  contained  in  the  catalogue,  sent  soon, 
when  I  hope  to  write  more  particularly  on  this  head.  I  met  Captain  Law- 
rence at  our  honored  friend  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis's,  where  we  had  some 
particular  discourse  about  your  place  and  people,  and  how  his  bounty  to 
your  church  was  laid  out.  From  the  whole,  I  apprehend  Mr.  Hollis  was 
not  displeased,  but  approved  of  what  you  had  done,  and  hath  been  so  good 
as  to  order  the  remaining  part  of  the  money  for  your  own  use ;  besides 
which,  he  hath  been  pleased  to  send  you  a  present  of  books.  I  have  often, 
my  dear  friend,  adored  the  divine  goodness,  in  disposing  this  gentleman's 


512  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

mind  to  so  much  service  for  the  interest  of  Christ  iu  general,  in  New  Eng- 
land as  well  as  Old;  but  especially  for  the  providence  by  which  such  a 
gentleman  came  to  the  knowledge  of  our  small  interest  iu  those  Colonies, 
who  had  such  a  love  to  despised  truth,  as  to  own  and  encourage  it  in  the 
face  of  so  many  and  powerful  opposers.  It  is  this  good  providence,  I 
apprehend,  hath  occasioned  some  persons  to  look  favorably  towards  the 
baptized  interest  in  Boston,  and  gives  an  encouraging  view  of  greater  ad- 
vantage iu  years  to  come.  His  favors  to  you  and  yours  hath  doubtless 
been  ungrateful  to  some  of  your  neighbors,  and  perhaps  some  have  been 
unkind  and  weak  enough  to  design  you  a  prejudice  by  some  accounts 
given  ;  but  be  in  no  pain  for  that,  for  Mr.  Hollis  is  no  stranger  to  the 
weakness  which  good  men  are  liable  to  ;  nor  will  he  be  easily  persuaded 
into  hard  thoughts  of  any,  notwithstanding  their  many  weaknesses,  who  in 
their  general  conduct  have  acquitted  themselves  like  Christians  and  honest 
men  ;  nor  do  any  who  attempt  to  draw  his  displeasure  upon  another  person 
without  good  reason,  do  himself  the  least  service  thereby  with  Mr.  Hollis. 
That  the  good  will  of  him  that  dwelt  in  the  bush  may  be  with  you  and 
yours,  is  the  hearty  desire  of  your  sincere  friend  and  unworthy  brother, 

Edward  Wallin. 

In  addition  to  his  other  donations,  Mr.  Hollis  founded  a 
professorship  of  the  mathematics  and  experimental  philos- 
phy  in  Harvard  College  in  1726,  with  a  salary  of  eighty 
pounds  a  year  to  the  professor ;  and  he  sent  over  an  appar- 
atus for  the  purpose,  which  cost  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  sterling,  besides  large  additions  to  the  college  libra- 
ry.1 And  by  a  letter  to  Mr.  Callender,  from  Gay  Head,  on 
Martha's  Vineyard,  of  September  11,  1727,  I  find  Jonas 
Horswet,  an  Indian  minister,  sending  for  some  of  the  books 
he  had  received,  and  also  mentioning  Thomas  Sekins, 
another  Indian  preacher  at  Nantucket.2  About  this  time 
four  Baptists  were  seized  for  ministerial  taxes  in  the  coun- 
try, and  were  cast  into  prison  at  Boston  ;  but  were  soon 
released  again  by  the  special  order  of  Lieutenant  Governor 
Dummer.3  Near  the  same  time  there  came  a  letter  from 
Springfield,  signed  by  thirty  men,  directed  to  the  Baptist 
church  in  Boston,  requesting  that  their  pastor  might  be  sent 
up  to  labor  among  them.      He  went   accordingly,  and  on 

'Neal,  Vol.  II,  pp.  220,  221.  *Scc  page  347. 

3Proctor's  Remonstrance,  in  1754. 


[1728. J  BAPTIST    SENTIMENTS  AT  SPRINGFIELD.  513 

July  23,  1727,  baptized  John  Leonard,  Ebenezer  Leonard, 
William  Scott,  Abel  Leonard,  and  Thomas  Lamb,  of  Spring- 
field, and  Victory  Skyes  and  Marcy  Lawton.1  of  Suffield.  A 
letter  to  him  dated  July  19,  signed  Daniel  Brewer,  Ebenezer 
Devotion,  Stephen  Williams,  Samuel  Hopkins,  Xehemiah 
Bull,  blames  him  for  not  first  coming  to  them,  and  says, 
"  We  cannot  think  that  preachiugto  or  treating  with  partic- 
ular persons  in  a  private  manner,  to  instil  into  them  doc- 
trines that  we  think  are  not  according  to  truth  and  godliness, 
to  be  so  Christian-like ;  and  we  assure  you  is  not  what  we 
expected  from  Mr.  Callender,  whatever  we  might  have 
feared  from  some  others. "  Mr.  Devotion  was  minister  in 
Sufheld,  and  Bull  in  Westfield ;  the  other  three  were  of 
Springfield.  When  Mr.  Callender  went  there  again  the 
next  year,  the  three  Springfield  ministers  wrote  to  inquire 
whether  he  came  prepared  for  and  expecting  a  public  dis- 
pute about  baptism.2     His  answer  was  in  these  words : — 

Springfield,  September  17,  1728. 
Reverend  Sir  :  It  is  uot  my  custom  and  manner  to  go  about  the  coun- 
try to  dispute  and  debate  and   wrangle  with  those  that  differ  from  me  in 
opinion.     It  is  well  known  that   I  am  for  peace   with    all  men,  and  for 

1In  addition  to  these  names,  a  manuscript  of  JohnCoraer  gives  the  names  of  Jona- 
than Worthington,  John  Fullin,  Richard  Gardner,  and  Mary  Worthington.  Also 
in  his  Diary,  Comer  wrote  under  date  of  October,  1727,  that  on  the  23d  of  the  pre- 
vious July,  Elisha  Callender  had  baptized  eleven  persons  in  Springfield ;  and  a  let- 
ter from  Springfield,  given  in  the  succeeding  note,  states  that  eleven  persons  had 
been  baptized  there. — Ed.  • 

2The  correspondence  in  connection  with  this  important  movement  in  Springfield, 
this  spontaneous  springing  up  of  Baptist  principles  in  a  new  field,  seems  to  be  of 
sufficient  interest  and  value  to  justify  giving  it  in  full. 

To  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Boston  under  the  care  of  Elder  Elisha  Callender,  the 
subscribers  hereunto  send  greeting  : 

Beloved  :  Although  we  are  no  chnrch  nor  members  of  any  church,  yet  we  have 
formerly  looked  upon  ourselves,  at  least  some  of  us,  to  have  been  members  of  such 
church  or  churches  whose  faith  and  practice  is  to  baptize,  or  rather  sprinkle,  infants  ; 
but  through  God's  goodness,  by  searching  the  Scriptures,  and  such  other  helps  as 
we  have  received  from  some  of  your  church,  have  been  made  sensible  that  our  for- 
mer practise  with  relation  to  baptism,  has  been  grounded  too  much  upon  the  tradi- 
tions of  men.  Aud  as,  through  grace,  we  hope  we  have  in  some  measure  been 
made  sensible  of  the  error  that  the  churches  in  this  land  in  general  are  in,  with 
respect  to  baptism,  both  as  to  manner  and  subject,  the  which,  in  times  past,  we  have 
33 


514:  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Christians  to   live  in   love   and  charity,  and  for  every  man  to  act  a*  he  is 
fully  persuaded  in  his  own   mind.     But  if  you  will  not  be  quiet  and 
and  will  insist    upon   it    that  your  people   must    hear  what  is  to  he  said*   in 
opposition  to  what  I  think  contrary  to  truth  and  godliness,  you  may  inform, 
Sir,  your  humble  servant,  Elisha   (ai. under. 

To  the  Reverend  Mr.  Daniel  Brewer. 

too  fondly  imbibed  and  embraced,  so  we  desire  to  renounce  and  forsake  the  same,  as 
not  in  the  least  corresponding  with  the  word  of  God.  And  understanding  that  the 
church  at  Boston  practises  and  allows  of  no  other  but  believers'  baptism;  we,  the 
subscribers,  do  therefore  spread  our  case  before  the  church,  humbly  entreating 
your  advice  under  our  present  circumstances;  and  if  it  agree  with  the  pleasure  and 
advice  of  the  church,  (in  order  for  the  attaining  further  knowledge  in  the  ways  of 
God)  to  grant  that  Elder  Elisha  Callender  may  give  us  a  visit  and  preach  some  ser- 
mons among  us,  who  as  yet,  the  most  of  us,  never  heard  a  Bermon  preached  by  a 
Baptist.  And  if  it  may  stand  with  the  pleasure  of  the  church  to  grant  this  the  re- 
quest of  our  souls,  we  entreat  the  favor  of  a  line  to  inform  us  when  it  may  be. 
And  now,  leaving  our  concern  with  God,  desiring  the  prayers  of  the  church  to  the 
throne  of  grace  that  God  would  carry  on  the  work  which  we  hope  through 
grace  he  has  begun,  and  that  he  would  perfect  it  to  the  end,  we  desire  to  sub- 
scribe, though  unworthy,  your  brethren  in  the  bonds  of  the  gospel, 

Jonathan  AYortiiinotox." 

[and  fifteen  others.] 

"We,  the  subscribers,  are  hesitating  in  the  doctrine  of  infant  Bprinkling,  and 
desire  further  instruction  to  understand  the  true  institution  of  baptism  according  to 
the  word  of  God,  and  to  be  in  the  use  of  all  proper  means  to  attain  the  same. 

Jos.  Bedurtha,  jr.," 

[and  twelve  others.] 

Reverend  Sir:  We  had  a  desire  to  have  seen  you  and  discoursed  with  you  in  a 
Christian,  moderate,  and  calm  manner,  respecting  your  visiting  the  people  of  our 
parts  and  charge,  and  to  have  known  from  you  whether  it  can  be  that  the  kingdom 
and  interest  of  our  glorious  Lord  Jesus  is  likely  to  be  advanced  and  the  welfare  of 
precious  souls  furthered,  by  the  measures  you  are  now  pursuing;  or  whether  the 
interest  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion  is  not  like  to  suffer.  We  are  not  fond  of 
men's  being  called  the  followers  of  Paul  or  Apollos,  but  if  the  good  of  men's  souls 
be  furthered,  we  shall  rejoice.  But,  Sir,  if  heats,  debates  and  divisions  do  follow, 
(as  we  fear  they  will)  to  the  wounding  of  religion  and  the  danger  of  vital  piety,  we 
ask  whether  blame  must  not  be  at  your  door?  If  you  esteem  of  us  a<  ministers  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  would  have  been  pleased  to  have  conferred  with  US,  we  would,  any 
of  US,  have  endeavored  to  have  given  you  as  true  account  as  we  were  capable,  of 
the  circumstances  of  these  people;  and  should  he  glad  to  join  wiih you,  or  any 
good  man,  in  doing  anything  for  the  revival  of  decayed  piety,  &c.  But  we  cannot 
think  that  preaching  to  or  treating  with  particular  persons,  in  a  private  manner,  to 
instil  into  them,  doctrines  which,  we  think,  are  not  according  to  truth  and  godliness, 
to  be  so  Christian-like,  and  we  assure  you,  is  not  what  we  expected  from  Air.  Cal- 
lender, whatever  we  might  have  feared  from  others;  and  we  should  have  thought  it 
more  fair  if  you  had  desired  to  have  preached  in  one  of  our  pulpit-  where  we  might 
have  heard  you  and  bai  e  had  an  opportunity  to  have  made  our  remarks  and  replies  [if 
we  thought  it  not  according  to  truth.)  See  Matthew  10.  26,  27.  A.S  to  the  book  you 
were  pleased  to  send  to  Mr.  Brewer  and  Mr.  Williams,  just  now  we  shall  make  no 
remarks  upon  it.  Eui.m/ii:   DBTOTZOV,  &c. 

Springfield,  July  19,  1727." 


[1728.]  BAPTIST  SENTIMENTS  AT  SPRINGFIELD.  515 

I  find  no  answer  to  this. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  their  second  charter,  Dr.  Cotton 
Mather  said,  ;;  Religion  is  forever  secured ;  a  righteous  and 
generous  liberty  of  conscience  established.  And  the  Gene- 
ral Assembly  may,  by  their  acts,  give  a  distinguishing  en- 
couragement unto  that  religion  which  is  the  general  profes- 

A  few  weeks  later,  those  who  had  beenbaptized  in  Springfield,  still  seeking  for 
light  and  guidance,  wrote  as  follows  : — 

Springfield,  September  6,  1727. 

"To  the  church  of  Christ  in  Newport,  under  the  care  of  Elder  Peckom  and  Elder 
Comer;  we,  the  subscribers  hereunto,  in  the  name  and  in  behalf  of  eleven  persons 
lately  baptized  hereabouts,  we  being  of  the  number  also,  all  baptized  upon  the  pro- 
fession of  faith;  send  greeting." 

Dearly  beloved  in  our  Lord  Jesus,  though  unknown  to  us  :  Whereas 
it  pleased  God,  in  infinite  mercy  to  discover  to  us  his  will  in  his  holy  word,  and  our 
indispensable  duty  to  submit  to  him  in  his  ordinances ;  the  which  (we  hope  in  obe- 
dience) we  have  so  far  done  as  to  submit  to  his  holy  ordinance  of  baptism ;  and  now 
are  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd  :  do  therefore  write  to  entreat  and  beseech  your 
prayers  at  the  throne  of  grace  that  God  would  please  send  a  laborer  into  his  har- 
vest here,  and  add  daily  unto  us,  such  as  shall  be  saved.  We  are  not  only  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd,  and  few  in  number,  but  we  are  environed  round  about  with  ene- 
mies, and  such  as  sometimes  prove  potent.  Indeed,  we  are  not  without  fear  that 
the  clergy  which  we  are  surrounded  with,  are  enemies  to  our  cause.  Do  therefore 
crave  your  advice  and  assistance  at  this  difficult  juncture  especially.  The  same  we 
have  requested  of  the  church  at  Boston,  and  have  had  Elder  Callender  with  us,  and 
being  now  wholly  destitute  of  such  help,  desire  also  that  your  Elder  Comer  might 
give  us  a  visit,  preach  amongst  us  and  administer  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  if  any 
should  present  to  the  same  :  and  that  God  would  enable  and  assist  us  to  persevere 
to  the  end,  and  build  us  up  into  a  church,  that  so  we  may  live  in  the  enjoyment  of 
all  his  holy  ordinances,  the  which  our  souls  long  for  and  thirst  after.  Thus  hoping 
and  entreating  that  both  the  church  and  Elder  Comer  will  grant  these  our  desires, 
which  are  not  the  desires  of  the  persons  above  mentioned  only,  but  of  divers  others 
also ;  we  subscribe,  though  unworthy,  with  our  Christian  love  presented,  your  lov- 
ing brethren  in  the  bonds  of  the  gospel, 

William  Scott,  &c. 

Mr.  Comer  relates  in  his  Diary  that  he  set  out  for  Springfield  with  two  brethren, 
"arrived  safe  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Jno.  Devotion  at  Southfield,"  Thursday,  Septem- 
ber 19,  and  the  next  day  "went  over  to  Springfield  and  found  all  things  agreeable." 
The  following  Lord's  day  he  preached  to  about  "seventy  auditors."  Two  ministers 
of  the  Standing  Order  came  to  see  him,  one  of  whom,  he  says,  "seemed  much 
troubled  about  the  affair  I  came  upon." 

In  his  visit  to  Springfield  the  next  year,  Mr.  Callender  baptized  Thomas  Durkee 
of  Windham,  and  Daniel  Blodget  of  Stafford.  The  letter  above  mentioned,  which 
he  received  at  this  time  from  ministers  of  the  Standing  Order,  is  as  follows  : 

Reverend  Sir  :  Our  laboring  to  wait  upon  you  together  on  last  year,  not  being 
well  received  by  some,  we  shall  not  now  take  pains  after  any  such  thing;  but 
take  this   method  to  ask  you  whether  you  came  prepared  for  and  expecting  of  a 


516  HISTORY   OF   THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

sion  of  the  inhabitants."1  And  for  thirty-six  years  they  made 
no  act  to  exempt  either  Baptists  or  Quakers  from  taxes  to 
his  party  of  ministers.  The  great  earthquake  was  in  the 
evening  of  October  29,  1727  ;  and  the  Assembly  that  met 
the  22d  of  the  next  month  passed  the  first  act  of  exemption 
therefrom,  that  they  ever  did  for  any  denomination.  It  was 
to  empower  every  settled  Episcopal  minister  to  draw  all  the 
money  which  was  assessed  upon  any  of  his  society,  who 
lived  within  five  miles  of  his  meeting,  if  they  usually  attended 
worship  there  ;  who  were  also  to  be  exempted  from  taxes 
for  building  or  repairing  of  meeting-houses  for  the  estab- 
lished way.  But  it  required  each  parish  to  make  up  to 
their  ministers,  within  two  months,  all  the  money  that  might 
by  their  means  be  taken  from  them.  The  five-mile  limita- 
tion was  dropped  afterwards  ;  and  by  an  act  in  1742,  the 
minister  and  church  wardens  were  required  to  give  certifi- 
cates to  each  parish  treasurer,  where  any  of  their  society 
lived,  in  order  for  their  drawing  said  money. 

Nothing  is  more  amazing  among  men,  than  the  influence 
which  the  love  of  power  and  gain  has  to  blind  their  minds. 
The  admission  of  the  houses  both  of  Orange  and  Hanover 
to  the  British  throne,  was  upon  the  principle  that  govern- 
ment is  founded  in  compact.  And  the  most  essential  article 
of  the  national  compact  was,  that  none  should  be  taxed  but 
by  their  own  representatives.  Yet  because  the  representa- 
tives in  this  government  refused  to  put  it  out  of  their  power 

public  dispute  concerning  the  subjects  and  modes  of  baptism.     We  ask  your  answer 
by  the  bearer.     From,  Sir,  your  humble  servants, 

Daniel   Brewer, 
Stephen  Williams, 

Springfield,  September  1G,  1728.  Sam'l  Hopkins. 

"Pletse,  Sir,  by  a  line  or  two,  to  favor  us  with  a  reply  to  this  as  soon  as  possible, 
directing  it  immediately  to  me,  I>.  B.,  or,  (if  an  opportunity  offers  convenient,) 
immediately  to  Mr.  Williams  at  the  Meadows." 

The  answer  to  this,  Backus  gives  in  full. 

Ten  years  later  the  Baptist!  in  Springfield  secured  stated  preaching,  and  after 
tw<.  viars  more  a  Baptist  church  was  formed  there. — Ed. 

'Account  of  his  father's  life,  p.  141.  He  himself  died  February  13,  1728,  aged 
sixty-five. 


[1728.]  THE  FIVE-MILE  ACT.  51*7 

to  give  or  withhold  the  salary  demanded  by  the  Crown  for 
governors  that  they  conld  have  no  choice  in  appointing  or 
removing,  an  attempt  was  made  in  England  to  bring  the  case 
before  the  Parliament,  and  to  take  away  our  second  charter. 
But  Mr.  Jeremiah  Dumraer,  brother  to  the  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernor, published  in  London  such  a  defence  of  our  charter 
rights  in  1721,  as,  with  other  things,  prevented  it.  Though 
in  1725  an  explanatory  charter  was  added,  which  deprived 
the  representatives  of  power  to  put  their  own  Speaker  into 
office,  without  the  consent  of  the  Governor.  These  things 
were  justly  complained  of,  by  those  who  daily  practised  a 
like  iniquity  themselves.  For  it  is  not  more  certain  that 
America  is  not  represented  in  the  British  Parliament,  than 
it  is  that  a  quantity  of  money  does  not  give  any  men  a  right 
to  judge  for  their  neighbors  about  soul-guides,  and  to  enforce 
their  judgments  with  the  sword.  Yet  this  was  daily  prac- 
tised, to  support  teachers,  that  many  who  were  taxed  to 
them  had  no  more  voice  in  choosing,  than  said  representa- 
tives had  in  their  governors.  But  as  hot  contentions  still 
continued  about  the  Governor's  salary,  and  other  dangers 
hung  over  them,  when  their  Assembly  met  at  Boston,  in 
May,  1728,  they  made  a  law,  as  follows : — 

That  from  and  after  the  publication  of  this  act,  none  of  the  persons  com- 
monly called  Anabaptists,  nor  any  of  those  called  Quakers,  that  are  or 
shall  be  enrolled  or  entered  in  their  several  societies  as  members  thereof, 
and  who  allege  a  scruple  of  conscience  as  the  reason  of  their  refusal  to  pay 
any  part  or  proportion  of  such  taxes,  as  are  from  time  to  time  assessed  for 
the  support  of  the  minister  or  ministers  of  the  churches  established  by  the 
laws  of  this  province,  in  the  town  or  place  where  they  dwell,  shall  have 
their  polls  taxed  towards  the  support  of  such  minister  or  ministers,  nor 
shall  their  bodies  be  at  any  time  taken  in  execution,  to  satisfy  any  such 
ministerial  rate  or  tax,  assessed  upon  their  estates  or  faculty  ;  provided, 
that  such  persons  do  usually  attend  the  meetings  of  their  respective  socie- 
ties, assembling  upon  the  Lord's  day  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  that  they 
live  within  five  miles  of  the  place  of  such  meeting. 

The  way  prescribed  for  their  being  known,  was  for  each 
County  Court,  at  their  next  session  after  the  first  of  June 


518  HISTORY  OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

annually,  to  appoint  meet  persons  of  those  societies,  "  to 
bring  in  a  list,  upon  oath  or  solemn  affirmation,  of  all  per- 
sons within  their  respective  towns  or  precincts,  that  profess 
themselves  to  be  Anabaptists  or  Quakers,  and  usually  attend 
their  meetings  as  aforesaid,  after  which  the  clerk  of  the 
peace  of  the  county  shall  give  in  to  the  assessors  of  each 
town  or  precinct  a  list  of  their  names." 

Here  we  may  see  that  arbitrary  power  is  always  the  same 
in  nature,  in  every  age,  and  every  country.  "  Go  ye,  serve 
the  Lord  ;  only  let  your  flocks  and  your  herds  be  stayed," 
said  Pharaoh.  Let  their  polls  be  exempted,  but  their  es- 
tates and  faculties  be  taxed,  said  the  Massachusetts.  Here- 
in they  imitated  him  ;  but  in  two  other  points  they  went 
beyond  him.  "  Go  not  very  far  away,"  said  Pharaoh  ;  "  Go 
but  five  miles,"  said  the  Massachusetts  ;  though  many  of 
their  own  parishioners,  from  that  day  to  this,  must  go  much 
further  than  that  to  meeting.  Neither  did  Pharaoh  require 
a  list  of  the  people  upon  oath,  as  these  did.  Little  did  Mr. 
Hollis  know  how  his  brethren  here  were  treated.  His  friend 
Wheaton,  who,  as  was  before  observed,  with  many  of  his 
society,  lived  within  the  bounds  of  Rehoboth,  now  hoped 
for  some  relief;  and  for  that  end  applied  to  their  next 
County  Court ;  but  they  were  told  by  the  judges  that  said 
law  did  not  take  place  that  year.  And  for  refusing  to  pay 
that  year's  tax  to  John  Greenwood  and  David  Turner,  min- 
isters of  that  town,  twenty-eight  Baptists,  two  Quakers,  and 
two  Episcopalians,1  were  seized  and  imprisoned  at  Bristol, 
by  Jonathan  Bosworth  and  Jacob  Ormsbee,  constables  of 
Rehoboth;  the  main  of  them  on  March  3, 1729.     Hereupon 

'Obadiah  Bowen,  Azriakim  Peirce,  Jonathan  Thurber,  Jeremiah  Ormsbee,  Squire 
Wheeler,  Daniel  Bullock,  Samuel  Goff,  Joseph  Bowen,  James  I  licks.  Seth  Guern- 
sey, Edmund  [ngalls,  Benjamin  [ngalls,  Ephraim  Martin,  Miel  Peirce,  Samuel  Thur- 
ber. William  Wheeler,  Philip  Wheeler,  Gideon  Hammond,  Jeremiah  Ormsbee,  jun., 
Ephraim  Martin,  jun.,  John  Jones,  James  Lewis,  Thomas  Horton,  Richard  Hound, 
Jotham  ( arpenter,  Samuel  Bullock,  Richard  Bullock,  Ephraim  Wheaton,  jun.,  Bap- 
Henry  Finch  and  John  Hicks;  Quakers ;  Samuel  Carpenter  and  John  Bowen, 

Episcopalians.  Philip  Wheeler  was  Colonel  of  the  militia  in  that  county  afterwards. 
Wheaton  was  son  to  their  minister. 


[1729.]  DISPUTE  OF  WIGHTMAN  AND  BULKLY.  519 

they  sent  a  petition  to  Governor  Burnet  in  Council ;  where- 
in they  claimed  charter  rights,  and  mentioned  the  late  declara- 
tion from  England,  that  there  was  no  national  or  provincial 
church  established  here,  and  the  release  of  prisoners  upon 
that  footing  ;  and  that  if  relief  was  not  granted  to  them, 
they  soon  expected  the  imprisonment  of  several  Baptists-and 
Quakers  of  Taunton  and  Norton,  on  the  same  score.  The 
Governor  and  Council,  on  March  8,  gave  their  opinion,  that 
said  law  did  take  place  the  preceding  year  ;  and  ordered 
Seth  Williams,  Esq.,  Chief  Judge  of  that  county,  to  convene 
a  number  of  Justices  at  Bristol,  and  to  do  all  they  lawfully 
could  for  the  release  of  those  prisoners.  He  convened  some 
of  them,  but  gave  no  relief  to  those  men.  Mr.  Comer  came 
and  preached  to  them  March  11.  And  as  no  other  way  ap- 
peared of  deliverance  from  a  nauseous  place  which  had  in- 
jured their  health,  but  paying  said  taxes  and  costs,  this  was 
soon  after  done  by  their  friends.  However,  lest  further 
complaints  should  be  carried  to  England,  the  Assembly  at 
Boston.  November  19,  1729,  added  an  act  to  exempt  their 
estates  and  faculties  also  ;  but  "  under  the  same  conditions 
and  limitations  that  their  polls  were  before."  Ancf  it  was 
not  to  exempt  from  any  tax  that  was  made,  and  then  in  col- 
lectors' hands,  nor  to  continue  in  force  any  longer  than  their 
May  session,  1733. 

After  the  death  of  Governor  Saltonstall,  the  Connecticut 
Assembly  of  October  8,  1724:,  elected  Joseph  Talcott,  Esq., 
in  his  stead  ;  under  whose  administration  they  enjoyed  more 
liberty  for  seventeen  years,  than  they  had  under  his  prede- 
cessor. Stephen  Gorton  was  ordained,  at  New  London,  pas- 
tor of  the  second  Baptist  church  in  Connecticut,  November 
28,  1726,  by  the  assistance  of  their  elders,  Wightman,  of 
Groton,  and  Comer,  of  Newport.  And  as  Wightman  was 
called  to  preach  in  Lyme,  Mr.  John  Bulkly,  a  learned  min- 
ister of  Colchester,  came  and  held  a  public  dispute  with 
him  at  Lyme,  June  7,  1727,  upon  baptism  and  ministers' 
support.     The  question  concerning  the  latter  point  Wight- 


520  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

man  stated  thus  : — "  Whether  ministers  of  the  gospel  ought 
to  be  maintained,  in  the  least,  by  goods  taken  away  by  force 
from  men  of  contrary  persuasions  V  And  he  gave  these 
reasons  against  that  practice  : — "  1.  Because  there  is  no  pre- 
cept nor  precedent  for  so  doing  in  the  New  Testament. 
2.  Because  so  to  do  is  what  we  would  not  be  done  unto  our- 
selves. 3.  Because  the  Lord  requires  only  volunteers,  and 
not  forced  men  in  his  service."  But  Bulkly  refused  to  dis- 
pute upon  this  footing,  and  shifted  the  question,  to  whether 
their  way  was  lawful  or  not  ?  And,  after  going  far  about, 
he  said,  "  Lawful  authority  have  a  right  to  determine  the 
undetermined  modes  of  moral  duties."  To  which  Wight- 
man  said,  "  1.  But  they  must  always  determine  the  mode  in 
the  order  of  morality,  and  so  they  may  do  to  others,  as  they 
would  they  should  do  to  them  in  like  case.  Now  would  you 
have  the  superior  powers  of  England  so  to  determine  for 
you,  that  you  may  have  liberty  and  only  bear  your  own 
charges  in  this  affair'?  2.  This  point,  I  think,  is  not  unde- 
termined in  Scripture,  which  shows  us  no  other  way  for  the 
support  of  the  gospel  ministry,  but  what  is  from  the  free- 
will offerings  of  the  people."  And  as  Bulkly  raked  together 
many  scandalous  things  that  had  been  published  against  the 
Baptists,  and  then  said,  "  They  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  so 
consequently  the  truth  cannot  be  with  them,  as  being  not 
known  in  the  world  till  about  two  hundred  years  past ;" 
Wightman  replied  and  said,  "  I  never  read  of  a  Presbyterian 
longer  than  the  said  term  ;  how  then  can  the  way  of  truth 
be  with  them  ?  If  you  say  there  were  men  of  your  princi- 
ples many  years  before,  I  answer,  that  there  were  men  pro- 
fessing the  doctrines  maintained  by  us  long  before  that  time."1 
The  May  session  of  Connecticut  Legislature,  in  1729, 
passed  an  act  in  favor  of  Quakers,  to  exempt  all  from  min- 
isterial taxes,  "  who  do  attend  the  worship  of  God  in  such 
way  as  is  allowed,  and  shall  produce  a  certificate  from  such 
society,  of  their  having  joined  themselves  to  them,  and  that 

>Bulkly,  pp.  132,  17G;   Wightman,  pp.  25,  28,  41. 


[1729.]  GEEATER  FREEDOM  IN  CONNECTICUT-  521 

they  do  belong  unto  their  society."  At  an  association  of 
Baptist  churches  at  North  Kingstown,  September  6,  1729, 
they  drew  a  petition  to  the  General  Assembly  of  Connecti- 
cut, that  their  brethren  who  were  scattered  up  and  down  in 
that  Colony,  might  be  exempted  from  taxes  to  ministers  and 
meeting-houses  that  they  dissented  from ;  which  was  signed 
by  Richard  Sweet,  Valentine  Wightman,  Samuel  Fisk,  John 
Comer,  elders  ;  Timothy  Peckom,  Joseph  Holmes,  Ebenezer 
Cook,  Benjamin  Herenden,  and  other  brethren,  to  the  num- 
ber of  eighteen,  one  of  whom  was  Thomas  Purkee  of  Wind- 
ham ;  to  which  was  afterward  added  these  lines,  viz. : — 

We,  the  subscribers,  do  heartily  concur  with  the  memorial  of  our  breth- 
ren on  the  other  side,  and  do  humbly  request  the  same  may  be  granted, 
which  we  think  will  much  tend  to  Christian  unity,  and  be  serviceable  to 
true   religion,  and  will  very  much  rejoice  your  honors'  friends,  and  very 

humble  servants, 

Joseph  Jencks,  Governor, 
James  Clark, 
Daniel  Wightman,  Elders. 
Newport,  September  10,  1729. 

Hereupon  the  Assembly,  who  met  at  New  Haven,  Octo- 
ber 9,  1729,  passed  an  act  to  allow  the  Baptists  the  same 
privileges  as  were  granted  to  the  Quakers  the  May  before ; 
both  of  them  being  perpetual  laws,  and  not  such  temporary 
acts  as  the  Massachusetts  have  perplexed  themselves  and 
others  with.  President  Stiles  informs  me,  that  the  Baptists 
in  Saybrook  were  the  first  who  took  the  benefit  of  this  act. 

A  concise  account  of  the  affairs  of  the  college  over  which 
he  presides  shall  close  this  chapter.  Connecticut  Legislature 
first  granted  a  charter  for  it  in  1701.  It  was  then  intended 
to  be  at  Saybrook  ;  but  after  hot  contentions,  wherein  a 
large  and  valuable  part  of  their  library  was  lost,  it  was  set- 
tled at  New  Haven  in  1718.  Elihu  Yale,  Esq.,  Governor 
of  the  East  India  Company  in  London,  made  large  donations 
to  it,  upon  which  it  was  called  Yale  College.  In  1719,  Mr. 
Timothy  Cutler,  minister  at  Stratford,  was  chosen  Eector  of 


522  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS  IN   NEW  ENGLAND. 

it.  But  in  September,  1722,  he  resigned  that  office,  and 
went  to  England  for  Episcopal  ordination,  from  whence  he 
also  received  the  title  of  D.  D.,  and  was  a  missionary  many 
years  in  Boston.  After  his  departure,  Mr.  Samuel  Andrew, 
minister  at  Milford,  presided  at  their  Commencements,  until 
Mr.  Elisha  Williams,  of  Wethersficld,  was  chosen  their 
Rector  in  1725  ;  which  office  he  sustained  with  honor  to 
himself,  and  advantage  to  others,  till  he  resigned  it  on  Octo- 
ber 31,  1739,  and  removed  back  to  Wethersfield.  He  often 
represented  this  town  in  their  Assembly,  and  was  service- 
able in  other  offices,  one  of  which  was  to  go  over  as  a  spe- 
cial agent  for  his  colony  to  England.  Mr.  Thomas  Clap, 
of  Windham,  succeeded  him  in  the  college  ;  tbe  govern- 
ment of  which,  by  their  first  charter,  was  in  the  Trustees, 
who  chose  the  Rector  and  tutors.  But  by  a  more  ample 
charter  from  their  Legislature,  dated  May  9,  1745,  their 
order  was  changed  to  that  of,  "  The  President  and  Fellows 
of  Yale  College,  in  New  Haven,"  whose  number  is  twelve. 
The  eleven  Fellows  are  all  settled  ministers,  who  elect  the 
President,  and  also  their  own  members,  when  any  of  them 
resign,  die,  or  are  displaced  ;  seven  of  the  Corporation  being 
a  quorum.1 

'Douglas,  Vol.  II,  pp.  183—188. 


APPENDIX    A.1 


Having  had  several  interviews  with  divers  of  the  people  called  Quakers, 
on  the  subject  of  the  first  volume  of  my  History,  and  finding  I  have  not 
clearly  expressed  their  sentiments  and  practices,  and  some  facts  appear- 
ing to  me  different  from  what  they  did  when  I  wrote,  I  am  desirous, 
with  them,  to  have  the  History  corrected,  and  matters  put  in  such  a 
light,  that  posterity  may  not  misapprehend  them.  Let  the  reader 
therefore  receive  the  following  correction,  as  what  appears  to  me  most 
consistent  with  the  truth,  and  in  justice  to  that  people  ought  to  be 
transmitted  to  posterity. 

In  page  117,  the  following  extract  from  John  Tyso's  letter,  "There  was 
nothing  in  him  (i.  e.  Dr.  Increase  Mather,  as  he  said)  that  he  hoped  to  be 
saved  by,"  having  been  made  by  me  to  manifest  an  error  in  Friends  respect- 
ing Christ  within  ;  I  would  observe,  that  I  do  not  look  upon  it  as  an  error, 
provided  Christ  without  be  also  acknowledged,  and  it  be  held  agreeably  to 
the  true  sense  of  John  vi.  56,xvii.  26  ;  I  John  iii.  24  ;  in  which  sense  I  am 
informed  it  is  held  by  Friends. 

In  pages  118,  119,  I  have  quoted  some  of  Roger  Williams's  arguments 
against  Friends'  sentimeuts  of  the  grace  of  God  having  appeared,  or  being 
manifested  to  all  mankind  universally  ;  for  their  answer  to  which  arguments, 
I  would  refer  to  Fox,  &c,  Answer,  pages  17 — 20,  Second  part. 

In  page  245,  I  mentioned  that  Quakers  were  so  called  from  Fox  and  his 
companions  trembling  and  quaking  before  Gervase  Bennet,  a  Justice  in 
Derby.  I  meant  not  to  insinuate,  that  their  trembling  on  that  occasion, 
or  others,  was  occasioned  by  the  fear  of  man  ;  neither  do  I  on  a  review  of 
proofs  find  sufficient  grounds  to  reject  Fox's  account  of  their  receiving  said 
name,  which  follows  in  the  same  page  ;  though  it  is  allowed  by  Barclay,  as 
well  as  Mosheim,  that  their  quaking  and  trembling  in  other  places  occasioned 
their  being  commonly  called  by  that  name. 

'In  the  former  edition,  this  Appendix  is  at  the  close  of  Volume  II.  As  the  arrange- 
ment of  volumes  is  changed  in  the  present  edition,  and  the  Appendix  refers  entirely 
to  Volume  I,  it  is  inserted  here.— Ed. 


5 '2  4  HISTORY  OF  THE   BAPTISTS   IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  page  25G,  I  undertake  to  inform  posterity  how  those  Quakers  behaved 
under  their  sufferings  ;  upon  a  review  of  which  it  appears  just  to  add,  that 
I  find,  and  that  by  other  parts  of  Cudworth's  uncontroverted  letter,  not 
quoted  by  me,  that  he  was  turned  out  of  office,  as  he  expressly  says,  "  Be- 
cause I  had  entertained  some  of  the  Quakers  at  my  house,  that  thereby  I 
might  be  the  better  acquainted  with  their  principles  ;  the  Court  professing 
they  had  nothing  at  all  against,  me,  only  in  that  thing,  of  giving  entertain- 
ment to  the  Quakers."  And  he  informs  us,  "that  when  the  Quakers  were 
committed  to  prison,  they  must  be  kept  on  coarse  bread  and  water ;  no 
Friend  may  bring  them  anything,  none  permitted  to  speak  with  them,  nay, 
if  they  have  money  of  their  own,  they  may  not  make  use  of  that  to  relieve 
themselves  ;  they  have  many  adherents  ;  and,  a  little  to  acquaint  you  with 
their  sufferings,  which  is  grievous  unto  and  saddens  the  hearts  of  most  of 
the  precious  saints  of  God,  it  lies  down  and  rises  up  with  them,  and  they 
cannot  put  it  out  of  their  minds,  to  see  and  hear  of  poor  families  deprived 
of  their  comforts,  and  brought  into  penury  and  want.  As  far  as  I  am  able 
to  judge  of  the  end,  it  is  to  force  them  from  their  homes  and  lawful  habita- 
tions, and  to  drive  them  out  of  their  coasts.  As  for  the  means  by  which 
they  are  impoverished,  these  iu  the  first  place  were  scrupulous  of  an  oath." 
This  does  not  appear  to  be  confined  to  allegiance  or  fidelity  to  government, 
but  oaths  at  large,  which  principle,  I  understand,  they  maintain  from  our 
Saviour's  command  ;  Matt.  v.  34  ;  I  say  uuto  you  swear  not  all,  &c.  uWhy 
then  we  must  put  in  force  an  old  law,  that  all  may  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  ; 
— they  cannot — then  a  fine  of  five  pouuds.  On  this  account  thirty-five 
head  of  cattle,  as  I  am  credibly  informed,  hath  been  by  the  authority  of 
the  Court  taken  from  them  the  latter  part  of  this  summer.  A  poor  weaver 
that  has  seven  or  eight  small  children,  himself  lame  in  his  body,  had  but 
two  cows,  and  both  taken  from  him.  The  marshal  asked  him  what  he 
would  do?  The  man  said,  that  God,  who  gave  him  them,  he  doubted  not, 
would  still  provide  for  him.  To  fill  up  the  measure  yet  more  full,  though 
to  the  further  emptying  of  Sandwich  men,  the  Court  of  Assistants,  the  first 
Tuesday  of  this  instant,  was  pleased  to  determine  fines  upon  them  for  meet- 
ings, one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds,  and  among  others  the  poor  weaver 
spoken  of,  twenty  pounds,  &c."  And  after  his  mentioning  their  not  suffer- 
ing their  friends  of  Rhode  Island  to  come  and  trade  with  them,  proceeds, 
M  So  that  unless  the  Lord  steps  in  to  their  help  and  assistance,  in  Bome  way 
beyond  men's  conceiving,  their  case  is  sad  and  to  be  pitied,  and  truly  it 
moves  bowels  of  compassion  in  all  sorts  except  those  in  place,  who  carry 
it  with  a  high  hand  towards  them.  Our  bench  now  is  Thomas  Prince, 
Governor,  &c."  See  the  letter  in  Bishop's  History,  pages  168 — 177.  or 
more  at  large  in  the  second  volume,  folio,  of  the  book  of  sufferings  of  the 
Quakers,  pages  191  — 195,  which  last  1  did  not  see  till  since  the  publication 
of  the  first  volume  of  my  History. 


APPENDIX  A.  '  525 

From  the  foregoing  account,  and  what  Bishop  charges  upon  Governor 
Prince,  viz.,  "  That  in  thy  conscience  they  were  such  a  people  as  deserved 
to  be  destroyed,  they,  their  wives,  their  children,  their  houses  and  lands, 
without  pity  or  mercy ;"  which  sentiment  of  his  against  the  Quakers,  I  am 
told,  is  remembered  in  the  family,  being  handed  down  to  those  of  his  pos- 
terity now  living,  it  must  therefore  be  acknowledged,  he  must  have  had 
too  great  a  share  iu  the  persecutions  mentioned  ;  and  as  the  persecuted  Nor- 
ton said,  the  strength  of  darkness  must  then  have  been  too  unhappily  over 
him.  And  in  justice  to  Humphry  Norton's  character  (which  is  under- 
stood to  be  lessened  by  my  manner  of  inserting  his  letter,  and  treating  this 
subject,  in  pages  247,  257,  of  my  History)  I  think  further  to  manifest  his 
and  J.  Rouse's  behavior  under  their  sufferings,  by  inserting  a  paragraph  in 
Bishop's-  History,  page  179,  wThich  would  render  my  account  more  intelligi- 
ble and  full.  Speaking  of  the  number  of  lashes,  which  I  mentioned,  he 
adds,  "  Which  as  it  drew  store  of  blood,  so  it  took  much  with  the  specta- 
tors, who  beheld  them  in  the  stocks  first  praying,  then  saluting  each  other, 
and  bidding  the  executioner  have  patience  a  little  (when  he  came  to  take 
off  their  clothes)  and  he  should  see  they  could  give  their  backs  to  the 
smiters."  And  Bishop  adds,  that  "They  gave  in  a  paper  assigniug  the 
grounds  and  reasons  of  their  returning,  when  they  were  demanded  where- 
fore they  came  in,  which  the  magistrates  would  not  suffer  to  be  read  ;  and 
so  euvious  were  they,  that  for  taking  John  Rouse  by  the  hand  they  put 
three  of  the  inhabitants  of  Sandwich  in  the  stocks."  And  it  appears  by 
the  said  Bishop's  History,  and  the  book  of  Friends'  sufferings,  that  other 
whippings  and  persecutions  followed  in  Plymouth  Colony,  and  the  said 
Humphry  Norton,  under  whippings  and  other  persecutions  at  New  Haven, 
appears  to  have  behaved  in  a  Christian  temper,  when  being  loosed  from  the 
stocks  after  being  whipped,  having  a  great  iron  key  tied  athwart  his  mouth, 
and  burnt  deep  in  his  hand  with  a  red  hot  iron,  "He  kneeled  down  and 
prayed  to  the  Lord,  uttering  his  voice  towards  heaven,  to  the  astonishment 
of  them  all."     The  reader  is  referred  thereto  for  a  more  particular  account. 

In  page  257,  I  intrepreted  the  figurative  expressions  of  "  Rending  the 
rocks  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,  and  exalting  that  which  is  low,"  as 
directed  against  civil  and  ecclesiastical  government,  which  I  supposed  they 
meant  to  subject  to  a  supposed  spiritual  power  in  Christians  without  out- 
ward laws  and  rules :  but  on  further  inquiry  and  conversation  with 
Friends,  I  am  convinced  that  they  thereby  referred  to  the  coming  of  the 
Lord,  by  his  spiritual  work,  to  level  the  wise  and  great,  compared  to  moun- 
tains ;  and  the  literal  knowledge  and  mere  scholastic  divinity,  compared  to 
rocks,  as  being  hard  to  penetrate  and  break  ;  for  that  wiiich  is  meek  and 
low  to  be  exalted,  even  Christ  within,  the  hope  of  glory.  In  which  sense  I 
perceive  that  passage  is  now  understood  by  Friends. 

In  the  same  page  I  observed,  on  some  preceding  extracts  from  Fox's  and 


526  HISTORY   OF   THE   BAPTISTS   IN   NEW   ENGLAND. 

Williams's  writings,  "  This  opens  the  plain  cause,  why  they  (the  Quakers) 
militated  so  hard  against  other  magistrates  and  government."  And  in  the 
form  of  an  allegory,  in  page  408,  it  is  said,  "  To  whom  others  made  fierce 
opposition  professedly  from  the  light  within  ;  and  their  clashings  were  so 
great  that  several  lives  were  lost  in  the  fray."  The  terms  "  militate," 
u  fierce  opposition,"  and  "  clashing"  to  the  loss  of  lives,  used  to  represent 
the  conduct  of  Friends  in  those  days,  in  respect  to  civil  government,  are  too 
harsh  to  be  justified  by  any  authenticated  facts.  I  conceive  it  to  be  essential 
to  civil  government,  that  the  magistrate  have  a  power  to  inflict  corporal 
punishments,  and  also  to  arm  his  subjects  to  war  against  invaders  of  their 
rights,  and  therefore  that  the  teaching  of  a  contrary  doctrine  in  either  of 
these  points,  so  far  as  it  has  influence,  tends  to  obstruct  or  pull  down  gov- 
ernment ;  and  in  no  other  sense  did  I  ever  mean  to  charge  the  Quakers 
with  militating  against  or  obstructing  government. 

I  find  they  allow  magistrates  to  inflict  corporal  punishments  upon  their 
subjects,  who  transgress  the  rules  of  equity  ;'  but  do  not  approve  of  arm- 
ing their  subjects  to  war  against  others.  And  in  all  States  where  they 
have  been,  I  know  nothing  but  that,  as  a  society,  they  have  been  either 
actively  obedient  thereto,  or  have  passively  suffered  what  they  were  pleased 
to  inflict  upon  them,  without  plotting  against  the  government  thereof,  or 
using  any  forcible  resistance  against  it.  And  I  desire  the  reader  to  remem- 
ber that  I  mean  to  correct  every  thing  in  my  History  that  seemingly  or 
really  contradicts  these  ideas,  and  this  character  of  the  society. 

In  page  258,  I  speak  of  our  Lord's  direction  to  his  disciples,  Mat.  x.  23, 
and  of  his  own  conduct  towards  the  Gergesenes,  Mat.  viii.  34,  as  forming 
a  general  rule  for  us,  thence  charging  some  blame  upon  those  Quakers 
who  returned  into  the  Massachusetts  ;  whereas  they  now  both  appear  to 
me  to  refer  to  special  and  peculiar  cases. 

As  to  the  writings  I  referred  to  on  page  260,  I  rather  think  my  memory 
failed  me  in  that  respect ;  and  as  to  not  having  light  from  Scripture,  for 
actions,  in  the  same  page,  I  find  that  they  suppose  that  Isaiah  xx.  2.  and 
Micah,  i.  8,  prove,  that  the  women  there  mentioned  might  be  moved  by  the 
divine  Spirit  to  do  those  actions  ;  of  which  the  reader  is  left  to  judge  for 
himself. 

Upon  a  review  of  pages  259  and  3G7,  compared  with  their  own  writings, 
I  find  that  I  had  some  mistaken  ideas  of  what  they  held  concerning  the 
light  within,  and  therefore  freely  refer  the  reader  to  their  own  authors  for 
information  in  that  respect. 

I  did  not  mean,  in  page  367,  to  charge  them  with  calling  darkness  light, 
any  further  than  wherein  they  appeared  to  be  against  allowing  others  the 

*See  Fox's  Epistle  to  Friends  at  Nevis,  in  1675.  Also,  Isaac  Pennington's  Works, 
folio,  First  part,  p.  323. 


APPENDIX  A.  527 

free  liberty  of  examining,  and  by  arguments  opposing  sentiments  which 
they  judged  to  be  erroneous  ;  which,  whether  they  were  against  or  not,  I 
freely  submit  to  the  reader's  judgment. 

William  Harris  is  referred  to  in  page  128,  note  1,  and  in  page  363,  is 
named  as  a  Quaker  ;  I  am  now  convinced  that  he  was  not  one  then,  if  he 
ever  was  ;  and  the  word  only,  as  I  twice  used  it  in  page  373,  and  once  in 
page  375,  in  a  way  that  seems  to  acquit  Mr.  Williams  from  any  blame  in 
his  dispute  with  the  Quakers,  was  more  than  I  intended  ;  for  I  really  think 
there  was  a  great  deal  of  imperfection  discovered  by  him,  as  well  as  his 
opponents,  in  the  management  of  that  dispute  ;  and  if  he  meant  to  punish 
any  merely  for  their  plain  use  of  Thee  and  Thou  (which  I  thiak  he  did  not) 
I  do  not  concur  with  any  such  thing. 

In  page  368,  I  have  not  so  fully  quoted  Friends'  answer  to  Roger  Wil- 
liams's objections  as  might  be  necessary  to  give  an  adequate  view  of  both 
sides  of  the  dispute  ;  therefore  I  refer  my  reader  to  their  writings  on  that 
subject,  particularly  George  Fox's  Answer  to  said  objections,  page  155, 
and  Appendix,  pages  117,  118. 

Page  37-4,  line  22,  after  the  word  "sentence"  insert,  "viz.,  blood  will  be 
given,"  which  words  are  particularly  marked,  as  referred  to  by  Grove. 

As  by  the  "grapes  of  Sodom  and  clusters  of  Gommorah,"  in  page  366, 
some  might  suppose  I  meant  to  charge  the  vices,  that  are  couched  under 
those  expressions,  upon  the  Quakers  ;  I  here  declare  that  I  meant  no  such 
thing. 

Perhaps  the  partiality,  in  favor  of  Mr.  Cotton,  which  I  mention  iu  page 
374,  was  owing  to  Mr.  Coddington's  particular  affection  for  him,  rather 
than  to  the  cause  there  assigned. 


APPENDIX    B. 


Containing  a   Brief   Summary  of   the   Ecclesiastical   Affairs   of 
this  Country   down  to  the  present  time.  [1777.]1 

Four  principles  have,  in  different  ages  and  countries,  been  proposed  to 
found  government  upon,  viz.,  nature,  grace,  power  and  compact.  James 
the  First  took  much  pains  to  persuade  his  people,  that  he  was  born  to  rule 
them  ;  even  so  that  the  privileges  he  was  pleased  to  allow  them,  were 
rather  favors  from  him,  than  original  rights  in  them.  And  his  flattering 
courtiers,  perceiving  his  humor,  gave  him  the  title  of  "  Sacred  Majesty," 
which  the  kingdom  was  very  little  acquainted  with  before.  His  high  claims 
occasioned  perpetual  troubles  to  himself,  and  cost  his  son  his  crown  and 
the  head  that  wore  it.  And  when  facts  are  examined  it  appears,  that 
Henry  VII,  from  whom  came  their  hereditary  title,  had  as  little  right  by 
birth  to  the  crown  of  England,  as  any  man  that  had  worn  it  in  five  hun- 
dred years  ;  and  he  made  his  way  to  it  through  blood  and  slaughter.2  The 
pope  has  been  the  most  notable  advocate  for  founding  dominion  in  grace  ; 
and  by  deceitful  reasonings  from  the  Jewish  hand-writing,  he  has  usurped 
the  seat  of  him  who  is  head  of  all  principality  and  power.  Henry  VIII 
took  offence  at  the  pope's  conduct,  and  rejecting  his  power  assumed  it  to 
himself;  and  many  others,  not  holding  the  Head  have  subjected  souls  to 
slavish  ordinances,  after  the  doctrines  and  commandments  of  men.  Col.  2. 
Cromwell  was  a  notable  actor  upon  the  third  principle,  who,  haviug  gotten 
the  power  into  his  hands,  pleaded  that  he  ought  to  use  it  for  the  good  of 
the  nation  ;  and  his  enemies  acknowledge  the  excellency  of  his  talents  for 
government,  if  he  had  but  obtained  his   power  in  a  righteous  way.     But 

lrrhis  Appendix  closed  Volume  I  of  the  former  edition.  Being  the  summary  of 
the  history  of  a  period  that  is  treated  in  full  in  the  succeeding  volumes,  it  is  largely 
repeated  in  them.  Parts  of  it  will  be  recognized  in  the  last  four  chapters,  which 
were  in  Volume  II  of  the  former  edition,  and  parts  in  Volume  II  of  the  present 
edition. — Ed. 

2Rapin,  Vol.  II,  pp.  160,  161. 
34 


530  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

he,  dying,  left  the  nation  in  great  confusion  ;  to  get  relief  from  which  they 
restored  the  second  Charles,  with  good  words  and  fair  speeches,  without 
settling  any  fixed  and  certain  conditions  with  him.  Soon  after  this,  priest- 
craft was  used  to  stir  up  tumults  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  then 
to  cry,  The  church  is  in  danger !  which  moved  the  parliament  to  make 
laws  to  exclude  all  persons  from  teaching  either  in  churches  or  schools, 
who  refused  an  assent  and  consent  to  their  ordinances  of  men,  and  also 
to  declare  it  to  be  unlawful  to  take  up  arms  against  the  king,  upon  any 
pretence  whatsoever.  And,  as  Dr.  Calamy  observes,  passive  obedience 
and  non-resistance,  was  the  doctrine  that  for  twenty-five  years  made  their 
pulpits  ring  and  presses  groan.  Yet,  no  sooner  was  this  doctrine  turned 
against  the  Episcopalians  than,  behold  !  they  called  in  the  prince  of  Orange 
with  an  armed  force,  to  drive  their  king  from  his  throne  !  And  now  the 
fourth  principle  is  preferred,  and  a  compact,  containing  a  large  Bill  of 
Rights,  is  made  with  William  before  his  coronation  ;  and  he  and  his  queen 
were  brought,  "  solemnly  to  promise  and  swear  to  govern  the  people  of  the 
kingdom  of  England,  and  the  dominions  thereto  belonging,  according  to 
the  statutes  in  parliament  agreed  on,  and  the  laws  and  customs  of  the 
same  ;  and,  to  their  power,  to  cause  law  and  justice  to  be  executed  in 
mercy,  in  all  their  judgments."  They  enacted  that  this  oath  should  be 
taken  by  all  their  successors  in  that  office. 

Now  the  word  of  God  plainly  shows,  that  this  way  of  mutual  compact 
or  covenant,  is  the  only  righteous  foundation  for  civil  government.  For 
when  Israel  must  needs  have  a  king  like  the  rest  of  the  nations,  and  he 
indulged  them  in  that  request,  yet  neither  Saul  nor  David,  who  were 
anointed  by  his  immediate  direction,  ever  assumed  the  regal  pow^r  over 
the  people,  but  by  their  free  consent.  And  though  the  family  of  David 
had  the  clearest  claim  to  hereditary  succession  that  any  family  on  earth 
ever  had,  yet,  when  ten  of  the  twelve  tribes  revolted  from  his  grandson, 
because  he  refused  to  comply  with  what  they  esteemed  a  reasonable  pro- 
posal, and  he  had  collected  an  army  to  bring  them  back  by  force,  God 
warned  him  not  to  do  it,  and  he  obeyed  him  therein.  Had  these  plain 
precedents  been  regarded  in  later  times,  what  woes  and  miseries  would 
they  have  prevented  !  But  the  history  of  all  ages  and  nations  shows,  that 
when  men  have  got  the  power  into  their  hands,  they  often  use  it  to  gratify 
their  own  lusts,  and  recur  to  nature,  religion  or  the  constitutiou  (as  they 
think  it  will  best  serve)  to  carry,  and  yet  cover,  their  wretched  designs. 
A  lamentable  proof  of  this  is  now  before  us. 

Dr.  Mather,  as  a  capable  and  faithful  friend  to  his  country,  labored  un- 
weariedly  to  have  the  rights  and  privileges  of  it  restored  and  enlarged  ;  in 
order  to  which  he  prevailed  with  Archbishop  Tillotsou  to  tell  the  king  that, 
41  it  would  by  no  means  do  well  for  him  to  take  auy  of  those  privileges 
from  the  people  of  New  England,  which  king  Charles  the  First  had  granted 


APPENDIX  B.  .  531 

them."  He  likewise  obtained  a  promise  from  Bishop  Burnet  that,  "on  the 
first  opportunity  he  would  declare  openly  in  the  House  of  Lords,  that  there 
was  a  greater  sacredness  in  the  charter  of  New  England,  than  in  those  of 
the  corporations  in  England ;  because  those  were  only  acts  of  grace, 
whereas  the  charter  of  New  England  was  a  contract  between  the  king  and 
the  first  patentees.  They  promised  the  king  to  enlarge  his  dominions  on 
their  own  charges,  provided  they  and  their  posterity  might  enjoy  such  and 
such  privileges  ;  they  had  performed  their  part ;  now  for  the  king  to  deprive 
their  posterity  of  the  privileges  therein  granted  unto  them,  would  carry  a 
face  of  injustice  in  it."  This  had  some  effect  upon  the  king's  mind,  and 
caused  a  scruple  whether  he  might  lawfully  take  from  us  the  privilege  of 
choosing  cur  chief  rulers  or  not.  To  this  some  of  his  arbitrary  council- 
lors said,  "  Whatever  might  be  the  merit  of  the  cause,  inasmuch  as  the 
charter  of  the  Massachusetts  stoftd  vacated  by  a  judgment  against  it,  it  was 
in  his  power  to  put  them  under  what  form  of  government  he  should  think 
best  for  them."1  This  was  so  flattering  and  plausible  that  it  took  with  Wil- 
liam, who  had  often  heard  of  their  persecutions  here,  and  thought  that  by 
reserving  to  himself  a  power  to  negative  all  their  acts,  he  should  prevent 
the  like  for  the  future. 

Accordingly  a  new  charter  was  drawn,  dated  October  7,  1691,  which 
included  Plymouth  colony,  consisting  of  the  counties  of  Plymouth,  Barn- 
stable and  Bristol ;  the  Massachusetts  colony,  which  contained  the  counties 
of  Suffolk,  Middlesex,  Essex,  Worcester,  Hampshire  and  Berkshire  ;  the 
Province  of  Maine,  viz.,  the  counties  of  York  and  Cumberland  ;  and  Sag- 
adahoc, which,  with  lands  annexed  in  the  county  of  Lincoln,  extends  to 
Xova  Scotia.  The  islands  south  of  Cape  Cod  were  included  in  this  char- 
ter of  The  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  which 
reserved  an  arbitrary  power  in  the  crown,  to  appoint  our  Governor,  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  and  Secretary  ;  but  that  the  people  might  choose  a  House 
of  Representatives  annually,  to  meet  upon  the  last  Wednesday  in  May  ; 
when  they  were  to  elect  twenty-eight  Councillors,  which  was  to  be  their 
Legislature  ;  the  Council  and  House  to  have  a  negative  on  each  other's 
acts,  and  after  both  were  agreed  therein,  yet  the  Governor,  or  in  his 
absence  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  might  negative  any  act  they  could  pass, 
and  also  negative  the  election  of  as  many  Councillors  as  he  pleased.  Upon 
all  times,  except  election  day,  he  could  call,  adjourn,  prorogue  or  dissolve 
the  Assembly  at  pleasure.  He  had  the  sole  power  of  appointing  military 
officers  ;  and  was  to  appoint  all  officers  of  the  courts  of  justice  with  the 
consent  of  the  Council ;  other  civil  officers  were  elected  by  the  two  houses, 
where  he  had  his  negative  ;  and  no  money  could  issue  out  of  the  treasury 
but  by  his  warrant,  by  the  advice   and  consent  of  the  Council.     And  after 

father's  Life,  pp.  126,  127,  132. 


532  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

all,  the  king  in  council  could,  at  any  time  within  three  years,  disannul  any 
act  or  law  that  all  three  branches  here  could  make.  Now  from  whence 
came  this  arbitrary  power  in  the  crown  of  England  over  this  country? 
Their  plea  founded  upon  the  vacation  of  the  former  contract,  would  dis- 
annul any  contract  that  could  possibly  be  made  with  any  distant  people  in 
the  world  ;  for  a  complaint  against  us  was  entered  and  judgment  was  passed, 
before  we  could  possibly  have  opportunity  to  answer  for  ourselves.  The 
charter  of  the  city  of  London  was  vacated  by  the  same  court,  where  they 
had  opportunity  to  answer  ;  but  they  would  not  crown  William  and  Mary 
till  that  judgment  was  reversed,  and  all  the  charters  in  England  restored, 
and  their  privileges  enlarged  much  beyond  what  they  were  when  the  con- 
tract was  made  with  New  England.  And  in  that,  the  king  engaged  for 
himself,  his  heirs  and  successors,  that  we  should  hold  cur  lands,  "  in  free 
and  common  socage,  and  not  in  capite,  nor  by  knights'  service,  we  yield- 
ing and  paying  to  him,  his  heirs  and  successors  the  fifth  part  only  of  all  ore 
of  gold  and  silver,  which  from  time  to  time  and  at  all  times  hereafter 
shall  be  gotten,  had  or  obtained,  for  all  services,  exactions  and  demands 
whatsoever."1  And  let  our  oppressors  show  if  they  can  that  we  ever  vio- 
lated this  contract. 

As  to  affairs  here,  the  charter  declared  "  liberty  of  conscience  in  the 
worship  of  God  to  all  Christians,  except  Papists,  inhabiting  or  which  shall 
inhabit  or  be  resident  within  our  said  province  or  territory."  But  this  most 
important  article  was  construed  by  the  ministers,  as  meaning,  "  that  the 
General  Court  might,  by  laws,  encourage .  and  protect  that  religion  which 
is  the  general  profession  of  the  inhabitants."2 

Accordingly  they  in  October  of  this  year  began  the  practice,  which  a 
noted  author  described  thirty-four  years  after,  in  the  following  manner. 
After  reciting  an  old  saying,  that  ministers  of  the  gospel  would  have  a  poor 
time  of  it,  if  they  must  rely  on  a  free  contribution  of  the  people  for  their 
maintenance,  he  says,  "  The  laws  of  the  province  having  had  the  royal 
approbation  to  ratify  them,  they  are  the  king's  laws.  By  these  laws  it  is 
enacted,  that  there  shall  be  a  public  worship  of  God  in  every  plantation  ; 
that  the  person  elected  by  the  majority  of  the  inhabitants  to  be  so,  shall  be 
looked  upon  as  the  minister  of  the  place  ;  that  the  salary  for  him  which 
they  shall  agree  upon,  shall  be  levied  by  a  rate  upon  all  the  inhabitants. 
In  consequence  of  this,  the  minister  thus  choseu  by  the  people,  is  (not  only 
Christ's,  but  also)  in  reality  the  king's  minister ;  and  the  salary  for  him  is 
raised  in  the  king's  name,  and  is  the  king's  allowance  unto  him.  If  the 
most  of  the  inhabitants  in  a  plantation  are  Episcopalians,  they  will  have  a 
minister  of  their  own  persuasion  ;  and  the  dissenters,  if  there  be  any  in 
the  place,  must  pay  their  proportion  of  the  tax  for  the  support  of  this  legal 

'Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  8,  9. 
"Massachusetts  History,  Vol.  II,  p.  10.   [17.] 


APPENDIX  B.  533 

minister.  In  a  few  of  the  towns,  a  few  of  the  people,  in  hope  of  being 
released  from  the  tax  for  the  legal  minister,  sometimes  profess  themselves 
Episcopalians  ;  but  when  they  plead  this  for  their  exemption,  their  neigh- 
bors tell  them,  they  know  in  their  consciences,  they  do  not  as  they  would 
be  done  unto.  And  if  a  Governor  go  by  his  arbitrary  power  to  supersede 
the  execution  of  the  law,  and  require  the  justices  and  constables  to  leave 
the  Episcopalians  out  of  the  tax,  the  people  wonder  he  is  not  aware  that 
he  is  all  this  while  forbidding  that  the  king  should  have  his  dues  paid  unto 
him ;  and  forbidding   the   king's   minister  to  receive  what  the  king   has 

given  him Sometimes  the  Quakers  also  have  given  some  occasion  for 

uneasiness  ;  but  where  Quakerism  is  troublesome,  some  towns  are  so  wise 
as  to  involve  the  salary  for  the  ministry  in  a  general  rate  for  all  town 
charges,  and  so  the  cavils  of  those,  who  would  else  refuse  to  pay  the  rate 
for  the  ministry,  are  obviated."1 

A  few  facts  may  help  to  explain  this,  and  to  show  how  much  greater  lib- 
erty of  conscience  we  have  enjoyed  since  the  Revolution2  than  before. 
Before  that  memorable  event,  no  man  in  the  Massachusetts  colony  was 
allowed  a  vote,  in  choosing  either  minister  or  ruler,  but  members  in  full 
communion  in  their  churches.  And  the  skill  of  knowing  that  those  who 
dissented  from  their  judgments,  sinned  against  their  own  consciences,  Tvas 
then  limited  to  such  good  men  ;  but  now,  having  forty  pounds  worth  of 
personal  estate,  or  a  freehold  worth  forty  shillings  a  year,  entitles  every 
inhabitant  to  a  vote  in  all  such  affairs,  and  to  a  power  of  judging  that  their 
neighbors  sin  against  the  golden  rule,  if  they  will  not  put  into  the  mouths 
of  him  whom  the  majority  has  declared  to  be  the  legal  minister.  From 
that  day  to  this,  it  is  made  a  doubt  among  our  lawyers  and  judges,  whether 
a  church  of  Christ  be  a  society  known  in  law,  so  as  to  be  capable  of  hold- 
ing a  meeting-house  or  other  estates,  without  having  other  persons  to  be 
trustees  or  guardians  for  them.  The  honorable  Edward  Goddard,  Esq.,  of 
Framingham,  who  had  been  a  member  both  of  the  Lower  and  Upper 
House,  in  our  Legislature,  described  this  matter  to  the  life,  in  a  piece 
he  published  in  1753,  wherein  he  says: 

"Good  conscience  men  allow,  (they  say) 
But  must  be  understood, 
To  say  as  they  say  themselves  do  say, 
Or  else  it  can't  be  good." 

For  thirty-six  years  after  the  Massachusetts  received  their  last  charter, 
they  exerted  all  their  power,  both  in  their  legislative  and  executive  courts, 
with  every  art  that  ministers  could  help  them  to,  in  attempts  to  compel 
every  town  to  receive  and  support  such  ministers  as  they  called  orthodox. 

father's  Ratio  Discipline,  pp.  20—22. 

2The  abdication  of  James  II,  and  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary. — Ed. 


534  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

They  made  two  attempts  of  this  nature  upon  Swauzey  ;  and  in  1722,  they 
added  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  pounds  eleven  shillings, 
to  the  province  taxes  upon  Dartmouth  aud  Tiverton,  for  such  ministers, 
intending  that  they  should  draw  it  out  of  the  province  treasury.  For  re- 
fusing to  assess  the  same,  Joseph  Anthony,  John  Sissou,  John  Akin, 
Quakers,  aud  Philip  Tabor,  a  Baptist  minister,  Select-men  of  those  towns, 
were  seized  and  confined  in  Bristol  jail,  till  the  case  was  carried  to  Eng- 
land, and  those  taxes  were  disannulled  by  the  king  in  council,  and  an 
express  order  was  sent  over  to  release  them. 

The  first  act  that  was  made  in  our  province,  to  exempt  either  Baptists  or 
Quakers  from  taxes  to  Pa3dobaptist  ministers  was  in  1728  ;  which  says, 
ki  that  from  and  after  the  publication  of  this  act,  none  of  the  persons  com- 
monly called  Anabaptists,  nor  any  of  those  called  Quakers,  that  are  or  shall 
be  enrolled  or  entered  in  their  several  societies  as  members  thereof,  and 
who  allege  a  scruple  of  conscience  as  the  reason  of  their  refusal  to  pay 
any  part  or  proportion  of  such  taxes  as  are  from  time  to  time  assessed  for 
the  support  of  the  minister  or  ministers  of  the  churches  established  by  the 
laws  of  this  province,  in  the  town  or  place  where  they  dwell,  shall  have 
their  polls  taxed  toward  the  support  of  such  minister  or  ministers,  nor 
shall  their  bodies  be  at  any  time  taken  in  execution,  to  satisfy  any  such 
ministerial  rate  or  tax,  assessed  upoif  their  estates  or  faculties  ;  provided, 
that  such  persons  do  usually  attend  the  meetings  of  their  respective  socie- 
ties, assembling  upon  the  Lord's  day  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  that  they 
live  within  five  miles  of  the  place  of  such  meeting."  Here  we  may  see 
that  tyranny  is  always  the  same.  uGo  ye  serve  the  Lord  ;  only  let  your 
flocks  and  your  herds  he  stayed"  said  Pharaoh.  Let  their  bodies  be  ex- 
empted, but  their  estates  and  faculties  be  taxed,  said  the  Massachusetts.  "I 
will  let  you  go,  that  ye  may  sacrifice  to  the  Lord  your  God  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  only  you  shall  not  go  very  far  away"  said  Pharaoh.  Go  but  five 
miles,  said  the  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Thomas  Ilollis,  of  Loudon,  had  received 
such  accounts  of  their  catholic  temper  at  Harvard  .College,  confirmed  by 
the  ordination  of  a  pious  youth  in  Boston  who  was  educated  there,1  that 
he  became  the  greatest  benefactor  *o  that  college  that  they  ever  had.  I 
have  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Ephriam  Wheaton,  pastor  of  the  first 
church  in  Swanzcy,  dated  March  23,  1723,  wherein  he  says,  "  You  have 
heard,  or  may  be  informed  by  Mr.  Callender,  of  my  foundation  in  Harvard 
College,  and  the  provision  I  have  made  for  Baptist  youth  to  be  educated 
for  the  ministry,  and  equally  regarded  with  Padobaptists.  If  you  know 
any  as  may  be  duly  qualified,  inform  me,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  recom- 
mend them  for  first  vacancy."  But  what  heart  could  he  have  to  send  any 
youths  there,  while  a  large  number  of  his  brethren,  who,  with  himself, 
lived    within    the   bounds   of  Kehoboth,  were   taxed  from  year   to  year  to 

'See  pp.  420,  421. 


APPENDIX  B.  535 

Presbyterian  ministers  !  After  the  above  exempting  act  was  made,  they 
were  told  by  their  County  Court,  that  it  did  not  take  place  that  year.  For 
refusing  to  pay  such  taxes  any  longer,  Elder  Wheaton's  son,  and  twenty- 
seven  more  of  his  people  were  seized  on  March  3,  1729,  and  confined  in 
Bristol  jail.  More  or  less  of  such  things,  which  by  their  eminent  fathers 
are  called  tyranny  and  robbery,3  have  been  practised  to  this  day,  under  the 
mask  of  religion. 

My  dear  countrymen,  I  must  here  solemnly  call  you  to  review  the  text 
which  has  often  been  cast  upon  us,  viz.,  "  Mark  them  who  cause  divisions 
and  offences,  contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  ye  have  learned,  and  avoid 
them  :  for  they  that  are  such,  serve  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  their 
own  belly  ;  and  by  good  words  and  fair  speeches  deceive  the  hearts  of  the 
simple."  The  uppermost  party  in  every  state  has  always  been  ready  to 
apply  this  word  to  those  who  refuse  a  submission  and  conformity  to  them 
in  religious  matters.  But  the  mark  is  set  upon  them  who  cause  divisions, 
not  merely  upon  such  as  are  divided.  Joseph  was  separated  from  his 
brethren,  without  his  being  the  faulty  cause  of  it.  Again  the  mark  is  put 
upon  such  as  cause  divisions,  contrary  to  Christ's  doctrine ;  otherwise 
he  declares  himself,  that  he  came  to  send  divisions  upon  earth,  and  even 
betwixt  near  relations.  This  matter  is  justly  stated  in  pages  421,422. 
The  inspired  apostle  commands  us  in  the  name  of  Christ  to  withdraw  from 
every  brother  that  walketh  disorderly  : — for  we  behaved  not  ourselves  dis- 
orderly among  you,  neither  did  we  eat  any  man's  bread  for  naught;  yet 
this  great  disorder  has  long  been  practised  under  good  words  and  fair 
speeches.  A  pagan  minister  who  loved  the  wages  of  unrighteousness  once 
cudgelled  his  beast  most  cruelly  for  not  carrying  him  forward  against  a  drawn 
sword,  whereby  he  would  have  been  slain  :  and  though  the  dumb  ass, 
speaking  with"  man's  voice,  forbade  the  madness  of  the  prophet,  yet  the 
above  practice  which  never  had  any  better  support  than  the  cudgel,2  is 
madly  pursued  by  many  who  call  themselves  Christians  to  this  day. 

A  convention  of  ministers  published  a  discourse  among  us  five  years 
ago,  entitled  Catholicism,  or  Christian  Charity ;  wherein,  after  saying 
many  excellent  things  about  charity,  they,  in  page  38,  accuse  those  who 
separated  from  their  constitution  in  1744,  of  zeal,  yea  rather  fury  against 
"  giving  and  receiving  ministerial  support ;"  and  with  a  want  of  "  consist- 
ency and  honesty,"  for  now  coming  into  that  practice  themselves.  It  is 
well  known  that  this  censure  is  leveled  against  many  of  my  brethren  and 
myself  with  them.  I  readily  confess  that  I  separated  from  their  constitu- 
tion about  the  close  of  that  year  ;  but  positively  deny  that  ever  I  appeared 
against  giving  and  receiving  ministerial  support,  and  know  not  that  any  of 
my  brethren  in  the  ministry  who  separated  from  them  ever  did  so.  Had 
they  said  that  we  were  zealous  against  assessing  and  forcing  in  such  cases, 

^ee  pp.  248,  419.  2See  pp.  80,  81. 


oo\j  nj.on.mi   \jx    inn.  uAriioio  ijn  ini^w    r..MjriwAjMj. 

they  would  not  have  wronged  the  truth  and  their  neighbors,  as  they  have 
now  done.  The  constitution  that  we  separated  from,  was  formed  in  Say- 
brook  in  1708,  which  says,  M  that  the  churches  which  are  neighboring  to 
each  other,  shall  cousociate  for  mutual  affording  to  each  other  such  assist- 
ance as  may  be  requisite,  upon  all  occasions  ecclesiastical."  Their  first 
proof  to  support  this  article  is  Psalm  122.  3 — 5,  which  speaks  of  the  thrones 
of  judgment  that  were  set  in  Jerusalem  for  the  house  of  David.  A  crafty 
ministerial  Governor,1  sou  to  a  Massachusetts  magistrate,  prevailed  with  the 
Connecticut  legislature  to  approbate  this  platform  the  next  year.  Another 
Cambridge  scholar2  was  then  minister  of  Norwich,  and  was  resolute  to 
introduce  the  scheme  there.  The  law  whereby  it  was  approbated  said, 
"  Provided,  that  nothing  herein  shall  be  intended  or  construed  to  hinder 
any  society  or  church  that  is,  or  shall  be,  allowed  by  the  laws  of  this  gov- 
ernment, from  exercising  worship  and  discipline  in  their  own  way,  accord- 
ing to  their  consciences."  Yet,  because  Richard  Bushnel  and  Joseph 
Backus,  Esquires,  representatives  for  Norwich,  (with  other  fathers  of  the 
town,)  withdrew  from  the  minister's  party,  rather  than  come  uuder  that 
yoke,  they  laid  them  uuder  church  ceusure,  and  by  that  means  procured 
their  expulsion  out  of  the  next  Assembly  when  they  met.  About  the  same 
time,  Mr.  Stoddard  publicly  advanced  his  scheme  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
being  a  converting  ordinance.3  And  though  with  much  labor  Norwich  got 
rid  of  said  minister,  and  settled  another  upon  their  former  principles,  yet, 
before  I  left  this  latter  minister,  he  not  only  plainly  discovered  his  fond- 
ness for  Saybrook  Platform,  but  actually  procured  a  vote  of  the  church  to 
receive  members  without  so  much  as  a  written  account  of  auy  inward 
change  ;  and  they  practise  so  to  this  day.  A  few  mouths  before  I  sepa- 
rated, Mr.  Elisha  Williams,  a  former  President  of  Yale  College,  published 
A  Seasonable  Plea  for  the  Rights  of  Conscience,  wherein  he'  says,  ll  The 
fountain  and  original  of  all  civil  power  is  from  the  people,  aud  is  certainly 
instituted  for  their  sakes  ;  the  great  end  of  civil  government,  is  the  preser- 
vation of  their  persons,  their  liberties,  and  their  property.  A  Christian  is 
to  receive  his  Christianity  from  Christ  alone  ;  for  what  is  it  which  is  nec- 
essarily implied  and  supposed  in  the  very  notion  of  a  Christian  bill  this, 
that  he  is  a  follower  aud  disciple  of  Christ !  As  Christ's  officers  have 
authority  to  teach  men  his  mind  in  things  pertaining  to  his  kingdom  ;  so 
they  have  no  authority  to  teach  men  anything  but  the  mind  and  will  of 
Christ.  Jt  is  a  truth  that  shines  with  a  meridian  brightness,  that  whatever 
is  not  contained  in  a  commission,  is  out  of  it,  aud  excluded  by  it ;  and  the 
teaching  his  laws  only  being  contained  in  the  commission,  what  is  not  his 

'Gurdon  Saltonstall,  minister   in  New   London,  before  his  election  as  Governor. 
gee  ](.  469.— Ed. 
.  "John  Woodward.     See  p.  474. — Ed. 

3See  p.  385,  note.— 13.  See  also  pp.  4G2,  408.— Ed. 


APPENDIX  B.  537 

law  is  out  of  it,  and  by  that  commission  they  are  excluded  from  teaching 
it,  or  forbid  by  it." 

But  what  can  be  more  contrary  hereto  than  for  a  civil  legislature  to  form 
every  town  and  parish  into  religious  societies,  and  to  force  every  inhabit- 
ant therein  either  to  support  the  minister  which  the  majority  have  chosen, 
or  else  to  pay  a  yearly  acknowledgment  to  that  usurped  power  over  their 
consciences?  And  this  is  as  real  a  breach  of  public  faith  in  our  charter, 
as  ever  it  was  for  the  British  Court  to  take  from  us  the  right  of  choosing 
our  own  Governors,  and  then  to  burn  our  towns  and  cut  our  throats  for  not 
paying  them  as  much  money  as  they  demanded.  I  have  the  express  testi- 
mony of  the  elders  and  brethren  of  seventeen  of  our  Baptist  churches,  who 
met  last  year  at  Grafton,  that  they  entirely  agree  with  the  sentiments  and 
principles  recited  in  our  history,  pages  10 — 22, 1  excepting  that  of  infant 
baptism ;  yet  great  numbers  of  them  have  been  taxed  to  Paedobaptist  min- 
isters since  that  time,  only  because  we  refuse  to  pay  any  further  acknowl- 
edgment to  the  above-said  usurped  power  over  our  consciences.  And,  since 
it  is  abundantly  evident  that  our  former  sufferings  would  have  been  greater 
from  the  ruling  party  here  than  they  were,  if  it  had  not  been  for  restraints 
from  the  British  Court ;  and  as  it  is  also  certain  that  attempts  have  been 
made  from  thence  to  prevent  our  uniting  now  with  our  country  against 
their  invasions,  how  can  those  who  still  incline  to  oppress  us  ever  expect  to 
prosper,  if  they  view  the  matter  either  in  a  natural,  or  a  judicial  light? 
Considered  in  a  natural  light ;  when  we  know  and  can  prove  that  several 
thousand  dollars'  worth  of  estates  have  been  wrested  from  us  on  religious 
accounts,  since  the  present  contest  for  civil  liberty  commenced,  with  what 
heart  can  we  obey  or  support  the  power  which  still  denies  us  equal  liberty 
of  conscience  with  themselves  ?  And  considering  things  judicially,  let  such 
read  the  warnings  their  fathers  had,  with  their  effects,  on  pages  209 — 212, 
311 — 313,  416 — 418,  and  then  venture  on  further  in  that  way  if  they  dare. 

It  is  to  be  noted,  that  a  very  large  number  of  our  countrymen  of  various 
denominations  are  for  the  equal  liberty  we  speak  of;  and  I  desire  all  to  act 
in  the  case  by  the  rule  Mr.  Robinson  prescribes,  pages  8,  9.  I  shall  close 
with  the  words  of  the  aforesaid  Mr.  Goddard,  viz.  : — 

"  In  ancient  ages,  when  the  English  realm 
And  popish  zealots,  placed  at  the  helm 
To  'stablish  that  religion ;  tithes  were  fix'd 

luOur  Agent  having  given  an  account  of  his  and  the  Committee's  proceedings  in 
the  year  past,  in  presenting  our  memorial  to  the  Assembly,  &c,  and  having  read  a 
state  of  the  difference  betwixt  our  churches  and  those  who  oppress  us,  to  be  inserted 
in  our  history,  it  was  voted,  unanimously,  That  the  account  Elder  Backus  has  drawn 
up,  of  the  sentiments  and  practices  of  the  Baptist  societies,  is  entirely  agreeable  to 
the  minds  of  this  Association. 

James  Manning,  Moderator." 
Minutes  of  the  "Warren  Association,  Grafton,  September  10,  11,  1776,  p.  6. — Ed. 
35 


538  HISTORY  OF  THE  BAPTISTS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

By  canon  laws  ;  with  civil  internrix'd. 

Which  form'd  the  English  constitution  so, 

That  after  ages  can't  the  tithes  forego ; 

Ami  hence  dissenters  are  obliged  there, 

To  pay  incumbents,  whom  they  never  hear, 

Which  some  condemn,  as  a  p.relatic  game, 

"Who  yet,  by  major  vote  would  play  the  same ; 

And  lord  majority  would  claim  the  purse 

For  his  incumbents ;  than  which  nothing  worse, 

Lordly  diocesan,  himself,  can  claim; 

So  these  two  lords  do  differ,  but  in  name, 

One  pleading  English  laws,  for  his  support ; 

The  other  feigning  acts  of  our  own  Court; 

Alleging  law,  in  a  perverted  sense, 

To  render  charter  grant,  a  mere  pretence ; 

And  as  if  law  and  charter  both  intend 

To  crush  one  church,  another  to  befriend ; 

They'd  ntake  them  mean,  the  same  that  Pharaoh  said, 

•  Go  serve  the  Lord,  but  let  your  flocks  be  stay'd."1 

But  if  one  church  be  tax'd,  to  serve  another, 

No  matter  whether,  done  by  this  or  t'other." 


END  OF  VOLUME  I. 


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